Like a Criminal
by Wicked Thespian
Summary: JaSam. Complete. Read and review, please! The final chapter, number 15, is now up! Thank you, everyone, for you support!
1. Chapter 1

(Okay, so this was supposed to be a RP start, but since no one was interested in that then I guess I'll post it as a fanfic and maybe continue it sometime between chapters of my other story.

It's a bit different than my regular style in that it's so short. I'll try to stay true to that, with each update being around three pages long. That might encourage me to write a bit more. Heh.

I haven't thought out a full plot for it yet, but I love this so much I can't help but post it. I think it's going to be a JaSam (obviously) fic, with Alexis and Sam bonding thrown in. The antagonist is, like it's a surprise, my Manny. I doubt I'll use any other characters, and if I do they'll be throw away... like only when I need them XD.

Anywho, please, read and tell me what you think! Who knows, your comments might help me to write! If you have any ideas, you can throw those in too. Feedback is always wonderful to me, as long as it's constructive. Don't think you have to spare my feelings by saying "It's good". I'm a big girl. I can take it.

Oh, bear in mind that I haven't gone through and editted myself yet. This is the "rough cut".)

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**Chapter 1:**

Everything was perfect.

Sighing, but feeling accomplished and proud, Samantha McCall took a step back to admire the end result of her exhausting four hour endeavor. She ran a hand through her thick black hair, pushing it back and away from her expressive hazel eyes only to have it fall instinctively back. A grin crawled across the small yet strong features of her face as she cast a sweeping glance across the living room.

The Penthouse had never looked more beautiful. Candles placed systematically around the room were the only lighting source, but cast a powerful enough glow to bathe the room in a soft flickering orange warmth. The center table was set for the perfect romantic dinner for two: nice plates and silverware arranged just as the book dictated, champagne glasses with a bottle on ice nearby, even cloth napkins neatly folded in a triangle. The works.

It was all wonderful. She couldn't wait to see the look on Jason's face when he came home to see it, but what really made her chest swell with excitement and pride was the delicious smell that was slowly seeping from the kitchen. It was not the smell of a phoned in dinner. It did not belong to pre-prepared food picked up from Kelly's or the Metro Court or any other restaurant in town. Sam had spent a majority of her day at the oven, and this scent was only part of the fruits of her labor.

Sam was notorious for her inability to cook. Her culinary excursion today was a triumph, made even sweeter by the thought that Jason knew exactly how inept she was and would truly appreciate how utterly amazing it was that the kitchen was not on fire, and neither was the food.

Laughing to herself, she looked at her watch. Two-twenty. He would be home at five. That left her two and a half hours to get ready. She drew in a deep breath to stay her excitement, and then climbed the stairs in three bounds to get to the bedroom. A quick shower, the evening dress already waiting for her on the bed, and then all she had to do was fix her hair and contain herself in an orderly fashion until he arrived.

That last part was a daunting order.

The water was hot against her skin as she stepped into the shower, pulling the glass door closed behind her. She let the thick steam billow around her as she stood under the cascade, letting her body grow accustomed to the sudden exposure to heat before moving to grab her loofa. Her skin was alive with electric responses. Each drop of water stimulated a spark against her body that caused her to shudder. Her anticipation towards the night ahead was projecting itself into her very being, and the stream of warm water falling around her, usually something she could relax with, did nothing but excite her.

She closed her eyes, letting her hands work instinctively with the soap and sponge to get a lather going.

How was he going to respond to all of this? As devastatingly handsome and sweet as he was, and no matter how much in love they were, when ever they tried to be romantic together something always went wrong. Be it the weather, the circumstance, an interruption or something more devious, they had not managed to pull off many private, special moments together. Tonight had to be different. It all seemed too perfect to be ruined by anything.

Smiling, she let her mind drift to the notes she had left for her lover to follow. It was a silly, playful touch that he would probably only begrudgingly follow, but to Sam it added to the fun.

The first one was on the doorway. A small, blue index card taped to the front door. It said 'Don't turn on the lights'. She had made sure he would recognize it as her being goofy rather than some sort of grotesque threat or something. In his line of work nothing was impossible, and she certainly didn't want to scare him or get him on edge.

The next one was sitting on the desk next to the door. She had built a small little altar around it with flowers and a candle. If he missed it it would be because he was an idiot, not because she hadn't put it in painfully obvious sight. Grinning, she imagined his face as he read it. This one was a letter on aged paper, folded into an envelope that was sealed with a kiss. Tacky, sure, but effective. Out of all her endeavors that night, writing this note had been one of the hardest. She wasn't blessed with extraordinary poetic prowess. In all truth, her literary ability was sub par at best.

Finding the right words to tell him just how much she loved him was hard. After fourteen separate attempts she still wasn't sure she had it just right. Maybe she would rewrite it after her shower, if she had the time.

The shampoo in her hair ran down her cheeks, threatening to sting her eyes if she continued to space out. Tilting her head back, she let the lightly perfumed shampoo rinse from her hair: an effective solution.

The next note was on the table. It said:

"Jason. If you're home on time than you have an hour before dinner is ready. Come find me.

I'm waiting for you."

Sam grinned. Shaking her head and making sure the last of the shampoo was out of her hair and her body was cleansed of soap, she shut off the water and stepped into the bathroom, warm water dripping from her thick hair like rain trapped in the boughs of trees. She grabbed the nearby towels, wrapping one around her slender frame and the other into a makeshift turban around her head.

As she entered the bedroom she couldn't help but bite her lip and giggle to herself. The dress was waiting patiently on her bed. She knew she would look stunning in it, which was why she had bought it earlier that day. It was the inspiration for the whole night. She was simply passing the store when she saw it in her peripheral vision on a rack inside. The rest was fate. The right size. On sale. She had to have it.

She remembered thinking, as if trying in vain to dissuade herself, _if I get that, where the hell would I wear it? _The idea for the night had come together seamlessly after that.

Toweling off and slipping into panties and a black, strapless bra, Sam picked up the dress and danced with it in a swirling step as she made her way to the mirror. Standing there, with the dress draping down in front of her and her hair still trapped in the messy wrap on her head, she felt beautiful. She knew it wasn't because of the clothes. Jason made her feel beautiful. He made her feel safe, and loved, and wanted. He was her lifeline, and more than that, he was her life.

Feeling lighter than she thought possible without the aid of some illegal substance, Sam slipped into the black dress, unable to resist its call any longer. She still had to fix her hair and makeup, but she had to see what it looked like on her, in the comfort of her bedroom.

It fitted her as if it had been sown around her frame. All the subtle, dangerous curves of her body were highlighted. It had a simple front, a low neckline that accentuated rather than insulted her large breasts, and thin straps over the shoulders. The back was far more intricate, the lace dancing in a criss-cross pattern down her back, exposing her skin from shoulder blades to the top of her tail bone. The skirt reached her ankles, with a sexy slit up the right side that touched her hip, leaving her soft, smooth legs cleverly displayed.

Pulling the towel from her head, she let the damp waves of her hair fall around her shoulders. Even without make-up and the hairstyle she had in mind she felt exotic. Her heart began to race at the thought of Jason's face when he came home to her, following the notes to find her waiting for him in the bedroom.

She pulled herself away from the mirror and swayed with euphorically unsure steps to the vanity. She didn't know how she was going to do an acceptable job on her make up when she was shaking so badly. The safest thing to do was work on her hair until she relaxed a little. Pausing as she plugged in the hair drier, her breath caught in her throat. She thought she had heard a noise. There was no way Jason would come home this early. She stayed completely still, fearing to breathe, for a full three minutes before allowing herself to turn on the hair drier._ It's your nerves acting up, that's all._

_There's no one downstairs._


	2. Chapter 2

(Whoo! I updated! Not even I thought I would. So here's chapter two. I hope you like it. I had a ton of fun writing it!

Please, read and review! I really do appreciate everyone who left a comment last chapter. This is pretty much for you guys! Tell me what you think, and I'll try to update again soon!

This chapter is actually very circular. By that I mean it's tied to the last one. See if you can see what I mean. There are a couple of instances I threw in there.

Again, this was an ambitious chapter for me by way of writing style and diction, so if you could leave comments I'd greatly appreciate it! Thanks in advance!)

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**Chapter 2: **

_Don't turn on the lights._

He grinned at the note on the door. She was playing some sort of game with him, which was cute. He felt a familiar impulse run through his body. It was the power she held over him. Even seeing her hand writing, her name scribbled on the bottom of the paper, was enough to excite him in numerous ways. He reached up and touched the words, as if he could somehow feel the essence of the soft hands that had put them there.

Slowly, he pushed the door open, peering into the dimly lit room carefully before entering. She wasn't waiting for him on the sofa, as he had been expecting. Slightly disappointed, but fiercely compelled, he closed the door with the same careful slowness as when he had entered. It barely made a sound as it clicked into place. He turned the lock and then straightened up, his eyes absorbing all the work she had done.

On the desk sitting against the wall just beyond the door there was a note in an envelope framed by flowers and a candle. He raised his hand to look at it, then hesitated. It was painfully obvious that this was an important letter, something that would affect him deeply. He would hold off on reading it until he had taken a better look around. Smiling to himself, he turned to the living area.

The candles were a nice touch. They were beautiful and the light was perfect. It was as if the Pent House had been completely redesigned. As the warm orange glow seeped across the furniture and spilled over the floor and ceiling the room seemed to expand, as if the walls wanted to give the romantic dinner setting on the table as much privacy as possible. She had rearranged the décor for just an affect, but he doubted she realized how powerful the result had turned out.

He drew a deep breath. The scent of melting candle wax and wisps of smoke paled in comparison to the fragrance billowing from the kitchen. It was incredible, and he almost couldn't believe his Sam had managed it. He would have to ask her about that later, when this little game was over. Mind cloudy with almost too much sensory pleasure, he crossed to the window and relit one of the candles. The draft seeping in around the sides had blown it out.

That done, he moved over to the table and picked up the note that was sitting on top of one of the plates. Above him the purr of a hair drier filtered through the ceiling. Slightly distracted, he unfolded the note carefully, holding it as if it would crumble if he wasn't careful, his fingers on the top and bottom corners.

_Jason. If you're home on time than you have an hour before dinner is ready. Come find me._

_I'm waiting for you. _

He couldn't help but grin at the note. She certainly had planned things out. That was one of the innumerable things about her that intoxicated him. She was smart. Not just book smart, or street smart, but clever. He felt like she could keep up with him, which was a rare trait to find in anyone these days. He wasn't blowing his own horn, or at least he didn't mean to; he just understood that he was good at his job, and that meant he was a shrewd business man. If he had to come up with some sort of plan to get what he needed he could, no problem. Sam was the same way.

He liked that about her.

Refolding the note and placing it back on the plate, he decided now was as good a time as any to read the note he had skipped. He went to the desk, picking up one of the flowers and turning it over delicately in his hand. The petals were soft and luscious, the flower small and strong. It was as if she had picked the flower most akin to her own being. It made him yearn for her to an almost painful degree. He didn't want to wait, already knowing where she was waiting for him and dying to meet her there.

He couldn't jump the gun. He knew she had put more than her fair share of thought and effort into this evening game, and it was only fair for him to do the same. It would take him only a few minutes to read the card, and then he would be up the stairs and in the master bedroom. His heart beat against his rib cage as if it were trying to burst through, violently filling his ears with the pulse of his passion for her.

Hands trembling in a mixture of excitement and erotic ecstasy, he picked up the envelope and turned it over. A kiss stared up at him, bright red against the dull paper. He raised it to his lips, inhaling the scent of her lips. It was almost too much. It took more will power than he realized to open the envelope and remove the letter without ripping it to shreds.

He opened the age paper and let his eyes travel down the lyrical, sincere words of love and devotion Sam had written for the one man she truly loved. It was almost a full page of small, impressively neat writing. She had taken her time with this, and had done her best to make it perfect. He could feel her in every word, and it made his stomach tighten with envy.

All these words. The loving care she had taken in setting up the whole night, the use of those spectacular wits and spunk that had him completely addicted to her: it was all for _him._ Jason Morgan. The man she was more than willing, as the letter described, to spend the rest of her life with. To bear children for. In whose arms she would gladly die. It made him jealous in a way he didn't understand, his mind blackening with torturous thoughts. He didn't love her, that he knew, but he hated Jason.

She was his Sweetness, and yet he could have no fun with her because Jason Morgan was always on the look out. Except, delightfully, today.

He pulled a pen from his pocket and quickly added his own paragraph to the end of the letter, his script looking crude and vicious compared to hers. It was the perfect counterpoint. He returned the letter to the envelope and resealed it the best he could. Jason wouldn't notice at first that it had been opened, but after seeing those final words he would recheck. But let him, by then it wouldn't matter.

Manny Ruiz was not the type of man who left incriminating clues behind haphazardly. He knew what he wanted Jason to find, what he wanted him to think. This game of Sam's, while a surprise, was perfect for him. It made his own fun a thousand times more entertaining and, ultimately, malicious. Neither Jason nor Sam could possibly realize how much pain was waiting for them in the coming days. Only Manny, the ever devious business man that he was, could truly appreciate the intricacies of his plan as it fell together seamlessly before him.

It was quiet upstairs now, which meant his prey was now settling herself in for the wait for her fiancé. He chuckled to himself and took to the stairs, climbing them silently, each step mounted with calculated precision as he ascended towards his ultimate goal. His imagine ran away with him for a moment as he thought about her reaction. Gun in hand, he paused at the top of the steps and drew a deep, wonderful breath. He stared at the door to the bedroom, left slightly ajar, and tried his hardest to calm himself.

His excitement peaked and raged dangerously, his passion and intent mixing into one throbbing sensation that threatened to overwhelm his senses. He moved carefully to the door and eased it open with one hand, the other aiming the gun.

She was devastatingly striking as she turned in surprise to see him. The dress, the hair, the make up, the eyes: everything down to the excited aura around her. Manny felt like he was going to explode, and his rationale was lost. He leapt at her, like a beast on an unwitting meal, and crashed on top of her to the bed. His mouth covered hers, his tongue choking her screams. She struggled beneath him, kicking and batting her arms against him with all her strength, but he had the advantage of size and surprise. He overpowered her completely, and for a moment almost lost himself to his desire.

He covered her mouth with his tattooed hand and pulled back, grinning down at her, the lust and sadistic intentions in his eyes glistening like the candles downstairs. Sam was now perfectly still beneath him, her chest heaving as fight gave way to flight. Terror set in, and desperation began to drive her thoughts. He could see how badly she wanted to get to the drawer by the bedside, her eyes wandering and giving her away. There was a gun there, he was sure. He had her securely pinned under his weight, so he didn't worry.

"It's been a while, hasn't it Sweetness?" He cooed, reaching into the pocket of his thick leather jacket and pulling out a capped medical syringe. The sight of it caused Sam to renew and redouble her escape efforts. Manny laughed at the fear and disorientation that crossed her fine features. He could almost hear her thoughts as he pulled the cap from the needle and checked the amount of liquid inside the vial.

He stuck the needle into her neck, almost cringing as she reacted. Her body pulled in one last dire attempt to wrench her lithe frame free, to no avail. Tears streamed down her face, her eyes shut tight against the injection. She moaned into his hand, begging him in muffled tones to stop, to let her go. He grinned at her, taking her strained face into his hands and forcing her to look at him, wanting his utter glee to be the last thing she saw before the anesthesia took affect.

Everything was perfect.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: **

Fifteen minutes crept by without an answer. The District Attorney didn't know why she was waiting, considering how many other things she had on her agenda today. Important things. Putting criminals behind bars and protecting the rights of the fair citizens of Port Charles important. Standing outside a Pent House door on the fifteenth floor of a building notorious for its criminal occupants didn't rank high compared to the meeting with the mayor she was currently pretending to forget about. 

She sighed heavily and rapped her knuckles fist the door again, feeling as if the skin on her knuckles was peeling with the veneer. On most days she would have just wandered away, figuring the couple on the other side were pulling their regular convenient disappearing act from the law. But today wasn't like most days. For one, the playful sign on the door suggested that Sam, at least, was home and waiting. Then there was the noise she had heard inside after her first knock.

When she arrived she heard movement inside, which was quickly stifled after she knocked. Five minutes of knocking and calling later and the sounds had completely vanished. All Alexis Davis wanted was for Sam to open the door. She didn't even need to go inside: their business could have been quick and painless. Done before Jason got home. But of course that was too difficult for Sam. She had inherited a stubborn streak that none could match, not even her own mother.

Alexis didn't know if she only had herself to blame for it, or if Sam went and developed her obstinance on her own. Either way, it was now perfected to a level not even Alexis, known for her strength of will and defiant nature, could hope to defeat.

That didn't mean she was just going to give up.

She kept up her vigilant knocking, calling persistently on her eldest daughter. She could just imagine Sam sitting inside, comfortably leaning back in the sofa with some sort of food or beverage to keep her content in hand, staring at the door with a slight smirk. The mother-daughter duo weren't on good terms after Alexis accused and arrested Jason of a crime that he, in a one in a million fluke, hadn't actually committed the week before. Not a word had been exchanged between the women since.

"Sam, really, this is childish and I have something important to discuss with you, okay?" She said, her voice teetering on the edge of defeat, "Just open the door: I'm not going to conduct business with you from out here."

"What are you doing here?" A smooth, cold voice inquired from behind her. Alexis jumped at the sound, instantly recognizing it but taking no comfort in the fact. She turned to face Jason Morgan, opening her mouth in surprise before she had a reply. Jason moved past her impolitely, turning the key in the lock before noticing the note staring at him at perfect eye level. He read it, glanced furtively at Alexis and then pulled it from the door. He went inside with no intention of inviting her to follow.

She did anyway.

"I'm sorry," she said, unable to hide the smile that lit up her face. She loved romance, and the room she was staring at certainly fell under that category, "I didn't realize you had an evening planned…"

"We didn't. This is all Sam…" He smiled vaguely, looking around. The letter waiting on the desk, framed in flowers with a candle sitting near by, did not escape his eye. Carefully picking it up, he opened the envelope and instantly become immersed in the words written there.

Alexis wandered towards the center table. She looked at the note resting there, her natural curiosity overcoming decorum without much of a battle. Grinning, she looked up at Jason, a comment about how cute this all was on her lips. The Enforcer's expression, however, stopped her cold.

He looked as if he had just been punched, his eyes scanning and rescanning a specific part of the letter. His shoulders were tense, his forehead creased in a scary expression somewhere between loathing and fear. Alexis had seen him worried before, but this was something entirely new. He balled the paper in his fist suddenly, coming from his trance, and then charged up the stairs, dropping it carelessly in his wake.

Knowing better, but doing it anyway, Alexis recovered the letter, smoothing it out against her thigh before trying to read it. The first two thirds of the paper was written in a fine, albeit hurried script. She recognized Sam's penmanship and, as she absorbed the words, her voice.

_Jason- _

_I don't really know how to say this, much less where to begin. I know you're probably laughing, or at least giving this that smile of yours that is deeper in your eyes than on your face. Which is fine, because I love that smile. I think the easiest place to start is by saying that I love you completely. I'm so devoted to you, it's hard for me to get through my day without seeing you at least once every hour. And I don't care if it's selfish to want to keep you with me all the time, but I know I can't. So I think about you when you're working, and sometimes I get these weird little ideas. Like tonight. I thought it would be romantic to surprise you and this is my best effort. So don't tease me if something goes wrong. It's really difficult to put love into words, so maybe tonight I can figure out some other way to let you know just how much you mean to me._

_-Sam_

Alexis chewed on her lip, noticing the stark change in handwriting at the bottom of the page. She continued to read with caution, dreading what was inevitably waiting.

_Isn't that sweet? You know, as sappy as it is, it almost works as a goodbye note. Which is good, because when I'm done with her she won't be in any condition to write anything. Good luck finding her. Enjoy the rest of your night. _

_I know I will._

Alexis had to force herself to breath, her involuntary muscles shutting down unexpectedly as she reeled in shock. Her heart skipped more beats than she thought she could live through as a heavy hand, Jason's, fell on her shoulder.

"How long were you outside?" He demanded, his voice dangerously edged, like a sheathed sword.

"Ten, fifteen minutes," she shifted gears from Worried Parent to Professional Lawyer. Right now she needed rational thinking and the ability to focus, not blinding, mind numbing anxiety, "When I arrived I heard noises, but I thought it was just Sam moving around in here. When I knocked they stopped. Since we were fighting I assumed she was just being petulant and shutting me out."

"You probably surprised him." Jason turned thoughtfully, then went to the balcony door. It was unlocked and slightly ajar, but there was no sign of a struggle or of forced entry. It was like he had gone out this way, but had entered some other way. There was no way Sam would have opened the door for him, which meant he had surprised her.

"You know…?"

"Manny," he said without hesitation as he returned to her, holding out his hand for the letter she was hugging tightly to her chest. She handed it over with a shake of her head, feeling battered and bewildered.

Jason drew a deep breath in through his teeth, his expression frozen. Though he looked absolutely serious and, ultimately, deadly, Alexis could feel how utterly useless he considered himself. He was blaming himself for not being here for her, for not killing Manny when all those chances had presented themselves. Alexis could relate. Sam's words resonated within her, not just in her mind but echoing throughout her entire being. It was her fault Manny was not in jail, where he belonged. A servant of the state, successfully defending a man who killed not only for a living, but for the hell of it.

She knew she was even more of a monster than he was.

"Jason…" she began, her apology manifesting at the end of his name. She had no time to complete that sentence, however. Jason was in motioned before she had time to comprehend the urgency in his shout. His arms wrapped around her frame and pulled her close as they both crashed to the floor, his body acting as a shield to a threat she didn't even know existed.

The room got hot. Blisteringly hot. There was an impossible sound, like a hundred claps of thunder erupting at once, and a light that was more than blinding. All sense was destroyed, time and consciousness imploding into each other. Then there was darkness and confusion.

And then there was nothing at all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: **

This was the worst hangover she had ever experienced. She sat up and ran a hand through her thick, messy hair, pushing it back from her face. She looked around, each new sight surprising her more than the last. The last thing she could remember was Manny jabbing some sort of drug into her neck. If she was honest with herself she would admit that she hadn't thought she'd be waking up from that. At least not in one piece.

As far as her own condition went she was marginally okay. Her head was threatening to split apart at her temples, her vision was blurry and the room seemed to spin around her, but beyond that she wasn't in any pain. No new bruises or cuts. No pulled muscles or any other injury. She was shaking as she examined herself, her mind lost to what _could_ have happened while she slept. Though she was glad, she couldn't help but wonder _why_.

Manny had left her on a bed, the sheets pulled over her and the pillow comfortably fluffed under her head. When she sat up and the blankets fell away she discovered that she was still in her dress. She frowned, her nature getting the better of her as she thought how much of a waste all that effort was now.

The room was empty but for the bed, a bookshelf and a table devoid of any decorations. There was a window but, as Sam struggled to her feet and took careful, shaky steps towards it, she quickly noticed that it was locked and there was no way to open it. She stood looking out into a beautiful garden, then sun high in the sky and filtering down into the room with a majesty that seemed out of place with her circumstance.

A key in the door turned and Sam tensed, turned around a bit too quickly to see Manny walking in. He said something to someone behind him, then closed the door and looked at Sam. He was dressed in a fine silk shirt and a black suit jacket and pant. He tilted his head at her, grinning and nodding.

"So you're finally awake. I didn't think it would knock you out for that long. Still, made the transport easy."

"Where am I?" Sam asked, hugging herself protectively and taking a step towards him, her eyes ablaze with defiance. He saw no fear there now, as he had when he captured her. It was a disappointment, but he knew he would be able to remedy that any time he wanted. He waved his hand dismissively.

"Knowing you you'll probably be able to escape from this room at least once, and I'm not going to risk you getting to a phone by telling you where we are. But just enjoy yourself. Did you see the view? Beautiful." He moved towards her, holding out his arms in a gesture she couldn't recognize.

It made her retreat backwards, until she was against the wall, the window just beside her. Manny stood directly in front of her, supporting himself with his arms raised over both sides of her head. He smiled into her eyes, letting his nose brush hers until she jerked her head to the side.

"If you won't tell me that, then at least tell me what you want," Sam said, fixing her stare so that he saw she was not impressed. He tilted his head and let his cheek rest against hers as he spoke into her ear. She shuddered as his breath curled over her skin, his voice seeping into her mind like water through soil. She pulled her head to one side, but she couldn't escape him. He moved his arm closer to compensate for this movement, effectively pinning her head in place.

"Don't worry, Sweetness. I won't hurt you. Not this time. Not yet. This time you're just a guest. But don't worry, you'll have company." He pulled away from her, leaving her breathlessly clinging to the wall, and went back to the door. He opened it and turned to block the opening, standing with his hands folded over his chest and his feet planted apart. He looked down and Sam followed his eyes.

There was no stopping the gasp that escaped her lips as she discovered Kristina huddled against Manny's leg, gripping it for safety because she didn't know any better. Tears stained her pale cheeks. Sam instantly fell to her knees, holding her arms open. Kristina ran to her, covering the short distance with surprising speed for so small a pair of legs, and threw herself into the embrace of her big sister, sheltering against her desperately. Sam held her close, kissing the top of her head. She glared up at their captor with renewed hatred, the corners of her lips curling in a snarl as her eyebrows met over her nose in the deepest scowl she could manage.

"You monster," she could barely choke the words out, her throat burning with the desire to scream at him. She didn't want to risk scaring the little girl even more. "What have you done?"

Manny raised his hands innocently, splaying his fingers apart as if to show he had no concealed weapons, "Don't worry about her: she's fine. I wouldn't hurt a kid. At least, not today," his face twisted into a malicious half-grin, a thick air of smug accomplishment settling over him, "can't say the same about Ric, though."

"What did you do to him? What are you planning to do with us!" Her voice rising with each syllable, Kristina's grip increasing with each word. Sam put her hands carefully on Kristina's small shoulders and moved her away so that her big sister could confront the demon standing in the room with them. Kristina transferred her defensive hugging to the bed post.

"Relax. I already told you I won't hurt you. This isn't about you. It's about your mom. I think she, and the rest of Port Charles, needs to see just how big a mistake it was to get me off those murder charges."

"She saves you from a life time in prison: a life time you_ deserve, _and you thank her by kidnapping her daughters? And then what? You're going to kill us in front of her?" She took three strong steps toward him, stopping beside the bookshelf. He circled on her but she sidestepped into his path to keep him away from Kristina.

He bared his teeth at her, "No. Just one of you."

Sam grabbed a book, the thickest she could see in one moment of a glance, and slammed it binding corner first against the side of his head. He reeled in surprise but did not go down, grabbing his gun from its holster under his jacket and smashing it in turn against her head. She crashed to the floor in a heap, bleeding from the new wound. Manny shook his head and frowned, rubbing his head. He bent to pick Sam up but Kristina, to his surprise, stopped him. She threw her small body protectively over Sam, crying and screaming for the monster to leave her alone.

Manny grinned.

Kristina drew a deep breath and screamed for her mother as Manny put his hand on her head.

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Alexis shot up in the bed, the last images of her nightmare flashing before her eyes. She struggled for air, panting and grasping her chest. The material under her hand was unfamiliar, and when she looked down she found herself wearing a hospital gown. For a moment she couldn't remember where she was, or what had happened, the echo of her daughter's cry in her ears.

The door swung open and Jason appeared, looking worried but ready to take down whatever threat was making Alexis scream. He saw her sitting on the bed, caught her perplexed face and sighed. Seeing him triggered her memories. Sam going missing. The explosion.

"Jason, what's going on?"

"Manny's making moves against us. When he kidnapped Sam he left that bomb for us to let us know how serious he is about this. He knows it wasn't strong enough to kill us, but he rigged it on a timer to surprise us because he knew when I was getting home from Sam's notes."

"Manny made a move against _you_. He left that bomb for _you_." Alexis looked around the room for sign of her clothes. To her surprise they were waiting at the foot of the bed. She refused to believe she was letting herself get sucked into the dangerous life style of her newest daughter. Was this what it was going to be like? Constant danger and worry?

"No. He left it for us. I don't know what made him think you would be there. It probably just played into his hands. Alexis… I have to tell you something."

Alexis felt her heart miss a number of beats, her features dropping and the piercing scream of her daughter reverberating in her mind.

"Ric is here in the hospital. He's unconscious, recovering from a severe beating. Mike found him outside of Kelly's, left there as if he was meant to be found. He was coming back from picking up Kristina from Sonny's…" Jason's cold eyes softened for just a moment as they flickered to meet hers then dart away. Alexis began to shake her head, silently begging him to stop, "Kristina is missing."

"No!" Alexis yelled forcefully, throwing off the then bed sheet and struggling to stand. Her head pounded in protest, almost deafeningly. She raised one hand in a half hearted attempt to stop it, the other reaching her clothes to change out of the hospital gown. She bit back the tears that threatened to blind her on top of everything else, her anger stirring in the pit of her stomach. "This is your life, Jason! Kristina isn't supposed to be a part of it!"

"I'm not going to apologize," Jason stood, going to the door and keeping his back to her, "I'm going to find Sam. And I'm going to find Kristina, because I'm sure they're in the same place. You can either hate me and pout or help me find your daughters. Either way, it's going to get done. But with your help it might go faster."

He took the doorknob into his hand as he moved to exit the room but stopped when his cellphone rang in his pocket. He shut the door to let Alexis change as he answered the call silently, listening to what the man on the other end had to say. He frowned deeply, worry creasing his forehead for a split second before the door behind him was pulled open and Alexis appeared.

"What's going on?" She ordered, knowing full well that the call was about her family.

"A DVD was sent to one of my men, Stan, from Manny. It's addressed, though, to you."


	5. Chapter 5

(Here's chapter five. Not that great, but enjoy it. Pretty much just filler. I do Manny no justice, but I love him, damn it. He'll get more vicious as I grow more used to his character. Wham bam thank you Ma'am:

Please read and review!)

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**Chapter 5: **

He didn't feel bad about knocking her out. Making her bleed. In fact, he loved the sight of her blood. If Kristina hadn't been there he would have discovered how it tasted. But he could wait. He was a very patient person. There was a game to be played here, and he was in control of all the pieces. There was no time to deviate from the plan, even if it meant passing on a wonderful opportunity to torture the woman that captivated him.

The way he figured it, he would have her for a while yet. More chances would arise. He didn't doubt it at all. The bubble of excitement in his stomach made him grin.

Moving away from the room, nodding at the three armed guards he left to protect the door itself and the two men stationed at either end of the hall, Manny made his way through the mansion to his personal temporary quarters. The room was grand and imposing, walls seeming to stretch to the skies and windows packed with a view that would make any king jealous. The room had very little real furniture, decorated with one large, canopied bed a cabinet and a bookshelf. There was a walk in closet, but it was near empty but for the provisions Manny brought with him in a duffle bag.

That didn't mean the room was empty. Lining an entire side of the wall, seeping half way through the room almost up to the end of the bed, was a high tech work area. Years of patient building and materials acquisition culminated in this room, of which Manny was almost paternally proud. None of it was legitimately his, but that didn't bother him in the least.

In fact, that just made it even more wonderful.

He took a seat in an absurdly comfortable rolling leather chair and pulled himself up to the largest of the three desks in the room. It stretched from one corner of the wall to the other, and housed over thirty video monitors flanking one large computer screen. Each monitor was set up with a code across the top and each displayed a different picture. This was his security center. He pulled out the keyboard from its hideaway and unlocked his computer, bringing up his favorite camera on the largest center screen. It showed the room he had just left.

Leaning back in his seat and putting his hands behind his head he took a moment to silently congratulate himself. So far there had been very few bumps in the road, and what did occur were easily smoothed over. He was more than amply prepared for the worst. And besides, it wouldn't be any fun if everything worked out perfectly.

He let his glazed eyes fall on the screen, absorbing the movements of the little girl he left terrified with her unconscious sister. She had her tiny hands on Sam's face, urging her through a waterfall of tears to wake up. She wouldn't let her fingers anywhere near the blood that was caking where he had struck the older prisoner, her small frame clearly shaking even on the grainy color distorted display. The corner of Manny's lip curled into a grotesque half-smirk.

Sam had dealt him a surprising blow with that book. She had managed to cut his eyebrow open, the slit a good inch long and deeper than he would have thought, considering how red the shoulder of his shirt on that side was. He didn't bother to clean any of it up: he was a man that lived for theatrics.

Minutes passed slowly as he watched the room. Kristina was tugging on Sam's arm now, desperate for her to get up. Sam responded, sitting up slowly, a hand to her head. It was clear that she was dazed and pained, her expression exquisitely agonized. He watched her lips as she spoke to Kristina, probably saying something optimistic and comforting: a lie. He preferred to watch rather than listen, keeping the sound cut from his visual feed. He had other men to monitor their conversation.

If Sam was to come up with an escape plan he highly doubted she would detail it to the young girl, anyway.

Drawing a deep, soothing breath, the cruel mobster rose from his seat and walked casually back to the room. It was an unexpected delay, but welcomed. Observation never hurt, and even the short time he spent watching the sisters provided him with new insight and inspired interesting twists if he bored of his approved plan. On his way he stopped into another room, ordering the man waiting inside to follow him. The lackey did as he was told, grabbing his heavy equipment as he went and not trying to look like he was struggling in front of his boss.

Manny knocked on the door politely before entering. When he opened the door he saw Sam standing in front of Kristina, her arm on the younger girl's shoulder protectively. She was staring at him with nothing but hatred in her eyes, which excited him more than she could possibly comprehend. If he could he would drop his plans and have her, taking her however he pleased with no regard for the repercussions. But he couldn't afford to. Not if he wanted this game to produce him as the winner.

"Glad to see you're feeling better. In a better mood, I hope," he drawled, crossing to them confidently as he waved over his shoulder for his man to follow him. The guy entered and set down the heavy tri-pod he was carrying, then slipped the bag from his shoulder and opened it. He produced a classy looking video camera, the DVD recorder clearly displayed on its side. It was high end, a theft to incite an ego.

Manny motioned that the girls take a seat on the bed. Kristina made to listen but Sam took her time, staring at him from underneath her scowl. He pointed again and she gave in, sitting on the bed and taking Kristina into her lap, holding her close. Never once did she take her eyes off of her captor.

The man affixed it to the tripod and removed the cap, a beep alerting the room that he had it turned on. Manny grinned and turned to look at the camera, standing close enough to it that he pretty much took up the entire screen. He grinned maliciously, clearing his throat.

"Congratulations on your promotion to DA, Alexis. You deserve it. I know how good a lawyer you are. Sorry to hear about Durant, though. What a way to go. Trapped like a rat, I hear," Manny didn't see Sam rolling her eyes behind him, "I don't think I need to waste either of our time by beating around the bush. I think you and I both know why you're watching this little movie, huh?"

Sam glanced around the room, her eyes inadvertently returning to the window. She didn't know how high up they were, but he doubted Manny left this to chance. There was probably a bed of nails waiting on the floor below or something. But she had to find a way out. For Kristina's sake.

Manny continued while Sam plotted her escape, "I bet you're wondering where your little girls are, huh? You were pretty quick to get that last one of yours protected. I know who I have to thank for that, but not right now. Still, two out of three ain't bad." He took a step back and let the camera guy move to frame Sam and Kristina. Manny sat beside him, startling Sam, who found that she hadn't been paying attention.

She couldn't help but blush from embarrassment. This was a serious situation and she was spacing out? Somehow that didn't surprise her. She didn't think it would surprise Jason, either.

Manny, however, was amused. "Taking in the view, Sweetness?" He asked, his voice patronizingly soft.

"Yes. That was exactly what I was doing. Can't hide anything from you," She sighed, feeling strangely confident. She tilted her head at the camera and made a goofy face. She refrained from the typical 'hi mom', though, considering that to be bad taste. All she needed to do was show them that she wasn't scared. That she was capable of taking care of herself, at least in the meantime.

Manny put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him, unable to resist. He was sitting on the side where he had hit her, and the glistening, fresh blood beckoned to him. He kissed her bruised and split skin, making her shiver. She wanted to shrink away, even if that meant crawling out of her skin. She clung to Kristina tightly.

"See, there's no reason to worry," Manny was saying to his invisible audience, "I'm taking good care of her. Sure, there's some discipline issues, but what can I expect from someone raised away from her real mother, right? So, Alexis. The point." He put his hand on Kristina's head only to have it knocked away by Sam. He grinned at her, pulling her closer, "You have two lovely daughters here. But let's face it, everyone has their favorites."

He paused to let that sink in. He could just imagine the features of his victim dropping as she watched this footage, reveling in the misery he was on the brink of causing.

"So if you were faced with a choice, Miss DA, how would you pick? Which one of these beautiful girls would you like returned to you in two days? I'll give you tonight to think about it. Oh, and Jason? Don't bully her into sacrificing her Corinthos born. You both need to remember: the one you leave with me is mine."

He didn't elaborate. He didn't have to. The camera man turned off the camera and removed the DVD. He slipped it into a case and handed it to his boss, who accepted it while he stood. He looked at Sam with a disapproving frown. She continued to scowl at him, unwilling to let him scare her.

The camera man packed up his things and exited the room wordlessly. Manny moved to the door behind him, stopping and looking back over his shoulder. His smirk was unmistakable as his fathomless eyes captured Sam's stare.

"I wonder who Mommy Dearest is going to pick?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: **

The DVD player clicked and the TV screen faded to black as it switched to sleep mode.

There wasn't a single sound in the entire world that would have been strong enough to break the silence that settled over the living room. Alexis gripped the remote, her knuckles white and the veins of her wrist pulsing in bulges as her heart pounded against her rib cage. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't blink. Her lungs were screaming at her, her eyes dry, but she couldn't do anything about it.

Jason, on the other hand, was livid. He couldn't contain himself, and hated Alexis for being so silent. He hated Manny, wanted to rip him limb from limb. He hated himself for leaving Sam in danger. He hated almost everything, Alexis's coffee table receiving just a small glimpse of his rage as he took told of the edge and flipped it over on itself. The papers, books, coffee mugs and decorative ornaments met there fates as they crashed to the floor.

The only thing he didn't hate was Sam. That made everything a thousand times worse.

Alexis found her gaze shift to Jason as he vandalized her house, her eyes hazy and distant. Two daughters were in the hands of a mad man. Her husband had been attacked, nearly beaten to death, and was lying unconscious in a hospital bed, his room flanked by guards that, on any other day, Alexis would have been happy to put behind bars. The young woman that babysat her children was under strict surveillance and protection, effectively jailed in her own home. Molly was with her, because Alexis was too much of a danger to be allowed to care for her last child.

This was not the life she wanted to live. It was all happening so fast. When it had just been Kristina things had been bad. Sonny was at that time the biggest mob boss around, a man with a target on his back. His child was just another dead body to anyone who wanted to hurt him. She had done everything she could to keep her away from the life, and through some terrible times had somehow managed to succeed. At least enough to be comfortable.

When Molly was born it was like a fresh new start for all of them. Her father was a man of the law. True, the connection to Sonny was still there but it was more removed. Ric was the perfect father. Sweet, honest and intelligent. He knew how to take care of both his own daughter and the one he adopted by marrying Alexis. There was a rhythm to their lives, like a heartbeat, a pulse that dictated their lives and drove them towards the peace that she had always wanted.

Then Sam, in a blur of chaos and tears, appeared in their lives. Her long lost daughter, the child she gave up for adoption when she was teenager. A woman of twenty six who was headstrong and driven, an adult who knew what she wanted and did what she needed to get it. Every bit as articulate and stubborn as her mother, a connection that was staring them in the face so plainly that neither noticed. It was too absurd.

"I pick Kristina," Alexis heard herself saying, silent tears slipping down her cheeks. Her body was shaking uncontrollably. She fixed her eyes on Jason, suddenly fully aware of her surroundings, the shock of being pulled from her dream world numbing.

Jason turned on her, his foot on the leg of the table he just massacred, "What?"

"If he was serious… if he asks me to pick a daughter. I have to pick Kristina. Sam would want me to, and-"

"I don't need you to justify leaving Sam to that monster," Jason moved to her. She recoiled, getting up from the sofa and holding onto the remote like it was some sort of weapon. Jason raised his hands submissively, expertly storing his anger for the right time. All he wanted to do right now was convince the mother of the woman he loved to not abandon her eldest daughter, "If Manny wants to kill them he will. You won't have a say. Play along with him and they both die: and probably you too. I'm sending this DVD to Stan to have him analyze it. Find out where they are."

"And then what? Burst in there, guns blazing? She's a _child_ Jason. She doesn't understand what guns are, or why that mean man with all the pictures on his body took her from her Daddy. She doesn't _deserve_ this."

"And Sam does?" Jason roared, eyes flashing mutinously. Alexis stopped cold, her blood running like ice through her stiff limbs. Tears sprang to her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She collapsed to her knees, dropping the remote and covering her face with her hands. Jason watched as she broke down before him, her body wracked with agonizing sobs.

"I don't know!" She cried between gasps for air, her throat constricting and her voice labored. She dropped her arms and hugged her stomach as if she had been stabbed, her forehead almost on the floor. Tears ran over the bridge of her nose, creating an almost perfect circle on the rug. Jason stood in front of her, looking down at her. He felt like condescension personified. He made no move to comfort her.

It seemed as if Alexis's body was tearing itself apart. The rational part of her mind, the lawyer and the woman she prided herself on being, told her she was making the right choice. It was unfair, universally selfish, and ultimately made her a terrible person, but she had to be honest with herself. She didn't really like Sam, on a personal level. And Sam had admitted to hating Alexis on more than one occasion.

But that didn't matter. None of it. Her maternal instinct told her that trading one child for another was inexcusable. She couldn't let herself do it. But what did that mean? What if her daughters both ended up dead? Just because she didn't have the constitution to make the most terrible decision of her life.

She didn't know what to do. And that killed her.

Jason kneeled beside her, putting his hand on her shoulder lightly. He couldn't comfort her, didn't really want to, but he couldn't leave her in this condition. The common thought about him was that he was a heartless monster. That wasn't true. Sam made him realize that.

"We'll save them both," He said softly, almost apologetically, "Kristina and Sam. You don't have to make a choice. I'll get them back."

Alexis looked up at him, covering her mouth with her frail, trembling hand and frowned in an effort to steady herself. She swallowed hard, still unable to draw a complete breath, "how can you be so calm?"

"One of us has to."

She shook her head, sitting back on her legs. Jason moved closer to her, keeping his hand on her shoulder and taking a seat near her on the floor. He watched her carefully, looking for some reflection of her the daughter she failed to raise. There was nothing Sam in Alexis. Not that he could see, anyway.

Alexis was seized with a terrible sob, her resolve visibly breaking in her eyes as she let herself cry once more. She clung to Jason's shirt, pulling him close and crying against his shoulder. He moved the hand on her shoulder around her back, hugging her to him in an uncomfortable effort to sooth her pain.

Jason was righteously angry, ready to kill Manny and anyone who got in his way in cold blood to save the woman he loved, yet he was here, in the house of his mother in law, comforting the woman he couldn't stand. He felt strange playing the Bigger Person role, putting aside his personal feelings to help get them both through this in one piece.

"This is my fault," Alexis said, drawing in a deep breath and pulling away from him, getting to her feet slowly. She folded her arms over her chest and walked away from him, to the wreckage of the table. The shattered mugs and coffee stains were brief, meaningless distractions, "I let him out, and now he's playing with me."

"Manny would have gotten out and come after you if he was put away," Jason sighed, standing. He saw his leather jacket hanging over the back of her sofa and was compelled to grab it and go. It wasn't wrong of him to want to stop this useless misery and do something productive, yet he made no move. Alexis wiped her cheeks with her palm, sniffling in a desperate effort to calm herself.

"I just want my daughters back. Jason, I'm not the DA right now. I'm a woman terrified for the safety of her children. A woman willing to do, or help _you_ do anything." Her voice was suddenly steely, a completely different attitude than anything Jason had seen from her yet. He nodded at her back, respect bristling in the air.

"Good." He went to the DVD player and ejected the unmarked disk, slipping it into a protective sleeve. He grabbed his jacket and pulled it around his broad, muscular shoulders, then went to the door. "Come on. We've got work to do."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

Jason Morgan was nervous. His stomach was doing flips, the hair on his arms and neck standing on end as he waited for the phone to ring. He typed uselessly on his laptop, trying to gather his thoughts through the key strokes and chewed on his lower lip. It was strange to be working in the company of the District Attorney. Especially since everything they were doing was marginally illegal.

After Alexis broke down Jason had delivered the DVD to Stan personally to reduce the risk of Manny interfering with their search. They returned to the Penthouse, still charred and wrecked from the explosion, to pick up a few 'things' Jason would need, then came back to set up shop in Alexis's new home. Jason got to work doing all he could to assist Stan, while Alexis vanished.

He felt useless. All he wanted to do was get Sam home. To him. He wanted to hold her in his arms and smell the soft perfume of her hair, the softness of her skin under his rough, worn hands. She had been bleeding in the recording, something he couldn't keep from dwelling on. If Manny hurt her there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't keep her safe.

There was a moment where he thought that was all he could give her. Safety. Even if that meant breaking everything off. He cancelled their engagement, forced her to move out, and tried to sever himself completely from her. That, however, hadn't worked out quite the way he thought it would. She was a difficult one to ignore, and when she put her mind to something there was really no fighting her. And, when it was all said and done, he had never wanted to.

So they had gotten back together and he changed the way he viewed their relationship. She told him time and again that she had made a choice when she first realized she was in love with him. She understood how dangerous his life was, but she didn't know how else to live. For him she was ready to adopt his lifestyle. She told him that it wasn't his life putting her in danger: it was hers. He accepted that, as best he could, and strove to keep them both safe.

Apparently he had failed.

The phone rang and Jason answered it. Stan delivered his report efficiently and without frivolity. Jason answered in monosyllables, hanging up once all the important information had been passed on. Stan knew what Jason was going through right now, and held no grudge against his boss for being rude on the telephone. There was no room for being petty in a business like this.

The air in the room felt stagnant, thick and emotionally charged. Jason gave off an intense aura, keeping the DA at bay. She stayed in the other room, watching from a doorway as the phone rang and the mobster answered. She didn't know what to think or do, and both parties thought it best if she just stayed out of the way. Literally. He didn't want to look at her.

It wasn't that he was mad at her. He realized that Alexis had every right to chose Kristina over Sam. Thousands of indications, moral obligations and instincts told Jason that this was the only course of action. Sam was a grown woman, could handle herself, was strong and, in an unsettling way, used to these kinds of situations. Kristina was a small child who didn't know what was going on, much less how to keep herself safe. If one of them needed more immediate rescuing it was the latter.

But Sam was her daughter too, and the woman Jason couldn't imagine living without. There was no way he was going to leave either of them to Manny. There was a tactful way to approach this situation, another kind of game to play in counterpoint to that madman's. All Jason needed to do was find the weakness in Manny's set up and exploit it.

Stan informed him that the film had been shot in a remote, out of state area. They tried to trace the packages path, but it had resulted in a dead end. The recording itself, however, had been filmed on a specific type of camera that recorded straight to DVD. They were running a check on that, but it was so broad Jason doubted anything useful would come of it.

No, the key was in the film itself. Manny had not gone to extreme care with this film. He clearly shot it in one go, since it never cut away, and he did not edit it afterwards. Why would he leave that confident, silly face Sam made at the camera in? It undermined the appearance of complete control he was going for, giving small hope to the recipients of the recording. Bearing that conclusion in mind, Stan had analyzed the DVD over twenty times, replaying frame by frame to isolate and examine the short moments when the window was in the shot.

The scenery outside was common and lush, green and beautiful. Stan discovered that it was a garden, not a forest, and it there were traces of a lake or water supply, considering the type of trees that were growing. They were not a common breed, and grew only near banks. They produced beautiful blooms, which was why some gardeners went to great lengths to introduce them to their own projects. They were running a search on properties that might have such a garden, and Jason thought this was far more likely to produce a useable result than the other small leads they were following.

All in all, they were grasping at straws and wandering through the dark. It was like trying to find stable footing on a road of marbles. With each passing moment he could imagine the threat to the two sisters increasing as Manny's patience declined. He couldn't, didn't want to, imagine what that monster might be doing to pass the time.

The land line began to ring and Jason picked up the phone, shooting a glance to where he knew Alexis was lingering. She appeared hesitantly, watching Jason listen wordlessly to the easily recognizable voice on the other end. Jason's face solidified, his features edged and menacing, his ice blue eyes sharpening with the intensity of a knife's point. The corner of his lip twitched as he forced himself to keep silent, his compulsion to yell almost unbearable.

"I think I've let enough time slip by," Manny purred into the phone with no effort to disguise his voice. Jason listened not only to his words, but the sounds around him. To his dismay, but not surprise, there weren't any. "Have you made your choice?"

"We're not playing this game." Jason said coolly. Alexis looked at him as if he had just shot her, tears in her broken eyes, her hands shaking as she reached for the phone. It was her obligation to speak with him, as far as she was concerned. Unfortunately to her, obligation meant nothing to Jason.

"Ah, Jason! I'm not surprised to hear you. In fact, you're just the man I was going to ask to speak with. I know what you're thinking of doing. Going all White Knight on us all to rescue your fair damsel in distress. I just want you to know that if you try anything stupid it's Sweetness that's going to have to pay for it. She doesn't have to die, you know. I've always loved the way she screams… and I haven't had the opportunity to make good on one of my initial promises."

Jason didn't need Manny to elaborate. He stood, scowling at nothing, Manny's laughing face flashing into his mind. He balled his hands into fists, digging his flat nails into his palms.

"If you even touch her…"

"You'll what? Kill me? Isn't that what you were planning on doing anyway? See, that's the problem with you good boys, you can't make any real fun threats. Too much class for torture. You hold your moral standing too high: because in the end, you and I are exactly alike. I just have more fun."

Jason's blood ran cold. His senses failed him, words he was going to use to throttle Manny slipping away like leaves on a breeze. His jaw hung slightly open, his eyes shifting from side to side as he listened in horror as a soft, feminine voice moaned painfully in the background. He couldn't contain himself.

"Don't touch her, Manny!" He yelled, his voice booming. Alexis let out a small cry of surprise, recoiling three full steps. She stared at him in abject horror, her heart in her throat. She could hear Manny's laughter from so far away, the sound piercing her mind and making the color run from her face. She said nothing.

"Just making sure you understand how serious I am about this," Manny said to Jason, his voice finally matching the malignancy of his loathsome soul. Jason shivered inadvertently, snarling as defeat settled over his proud shoulders. Manny took his silence for what it was, a grin crawling into his tone like a snake, "Good boy. Now let me speak to Alexis, please."

Jason couldn't stand how rightfully pompous Manny had become. All because they continually failed to kill him. He was beginning to worry that the man they branded a demon was exactly that. Some devil spawn that infected their lives and could not be destroyed. But that wouldn't keep them from trying.

He silently ordered Alexis to come to him with one jerk of his hand. He thrust the phone at her and then moved away. He didn't want to be around anyone. He was feeling dangerous and terrible, his rage getting the better of him. Alexis him watched him move, wondering vaguely, albeit inappropriately, what furniture was next on his hit list now that the coffee table had been disposed of.

It was the book shelf.

Alexis held the phone to her ears, breathing heavily but unable to produce a word. Manny seemed to know he was speaking to her now, and continued without much delay.

"So, have you made your choice?"

Alexis nodded, then, aware that she was on the phone, forced out a tiny, "yes. Kristina…"

There was a very long pause on the other end. Alexis couldn't figure out what was going on, Manny returning before she had enough time to understand anything. He was laughing, as if someone had told him a very funny dirty joke, and he had to catch his breath before he spoke again.

"Good. Here's what's going to happen now."


	8. Chapter 8

**(I just wanted to thank everyone for their awesome reviews! I really appreciate it, and I'm glad you all like the story so much! So here's another chapter for you.) **

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Chapter 8:**

A strong woman. An independent, tenacious, clever, impertinent, defiant, strong willed woman. Someone who didn't back down from a fight and liked to instigate a few. A person that was fiercely loyal to the people she loved. The kind of person who had your back in a bad situation but never knew when to run. Got into trouble a lot, but somehow managed to get herself through. Loved generously and lived to learn. Growing as a person was hard, but she was working on it. With her man by her side, she could get through anything.

That was how Sam could honestly describe herself. She wasn't the kind of person who liked to make a pro and con list about themselves, but at that moment she couldn't help it. At that moment all she could think about was how different she was, and how fast she had changed.

She was weak and terrified, cowering helpless, bound and gagged, in the corner of the room where Manny had left her. Her shivering frame threatened to shut itself off, the force of her shock as brutal as any blow to the head. All she could think about was escaping, getting as far away from this hell as possible. She couldn't picture it, no matter how hard she tried. Her mind was trembling as badly as her body, and only with extreme effort could she keep the images of what he could, would do to her at bay.

All she wanted to do was be left alone. She had no idea where Kristina was at that moment, maybe back at the room, nor did she know where she was. It was some sort of technical room, with more equipment and gadgets than she realized Manny had access too. The more she learned about him the more he scared her. She couldn't keep up the pretense of being a strong, independent woman much longer.

She felt battered and broken, though no tears stained her cheeks and the only injury she had was the gash on her head. It wasn't a physical sort of experience. Everything Manny was doing to her was emotional, tearing her muscle from bone in an ethereal sense. She could feel his fingers lingering on her skin, the curl of his knuckles as he explored her body. Her own whimper echoed in her ears, desperate and terrorized. It was a thousand times more unbearable than torture, leaving all her defenses destroyed. Vulnerable and unsteady, she found herself completely at his mercy.

He moved to her, grinning down at her as he listened to her fiancé on the phone. She could hear him, his angry voice a comfort in the most confounding way. The rage Jason was feeling was a vicarious thrill for Sam. She understood without thinking that Jason would kill Manny before all this was over. For a brief moment her confidence restored itself, and she looked up at Manny with fire in her eyes, as if daring him to touch her like that again.

Manny asked for Alexis and Sam could only assume Jason complied. He kneeled next to her, brushing her hair back from her face pseudo tenderly, as he spoke to Alexis. "So, have you made your choice?"

He took the phone from his ear and put it against Sam's, holding a finger to his mouth in warning. She held her breath, not making a sound. Her mother's voice was small and crushed, "Yes. Kristina…"

There was no describing how painful it was to hear her say it. It wasn't unexpected. It was what Sam wanted her to do. But it was as if she hadn't had any trouble coming to this decision. Sam didn't know what she had wanted Alexis to say, how she wanted her mother to react, but this wasn't it. Her heart screamed at her, each beat like a stab in her chest. Tears rolled freely down her cheeks as she cried silently against the gag over her mouth. She shut her eyes tightly, pulling away from Manny the best she could, curling against the wall and ducking her head against her knees.

Manny laughed, a dirty, mean sound that only added to Sam's misery. He put the phone back to his ear, took a breath to calm himself and spoke once again. Sam didn't hear him, forcing everything around her to disappear. She sank into the darkness, letting go of the heartbreak and fear. When she woke, if she woke, she vowed to be stronger. Promised herself she wouldn't let Manny win like this. That this was the last time he would laugh at her so cruelly. Her head was pounding, her chest on fire, her wrists stinging from the tight ropes. She shut it all out.

When Manny hung up he looked over at Sam. She was trembling in a ball in the corner, her eyes shut tightly against the world. He went to her slowly, kneeling down once more. He ran his hand down her cheek soothingly, speaking in a voice Sam had heard herself use with Kristina when she was frightened.

"Hey, it's okay Sweetness," he cooed, curling his arm around her body and careful forcing her to sit up, positioning her with her back against the wall. He took her chin in both his hands, his fingers tracing the curve of her cheeks as he wiped away her tears. She opened her eyes and found herself staring straight into his. It was like seeing the open mouth of hell. There was nothing there but bestial lust and ruthlessness. She whimpered timidly. All she wanted to do was escape.

"Hey," He put his forehead against hers, his nose brushing the side of her face. When he spoke she could feel his breath against the tape he used to cover her mouth, his lips tickling hers through the adhesive. She couldn't pull away, couldn't turn her head. He had her trapped a thousand times over, and all she could do was cry.

"Come on Sam, better get you back to your room. Looks like you and I have some fun times ahead." He spoke casually, taking her into his arms like she was a doll. Carrying her effortlessly down the hall, he continued to speak to her, "Mommy Dearest and Morgan are in for a surprise. Boy are they. This is going to be fun. And it's all thanks to you, chika. And if you keep on behaving, I might even let you die with your boyfriend. Huh, how does that sound?"

Something changed. There was a snap, a click, some other onomatopoeia that epitomized the sudden surge of hatred and disgust in Sam. She stopped crying, stopped being scared, stopped worrying about herself. She jerked in his arms, smashing her elbow into his gut. He dropped her reactively and she hit the ground hard. Undeterred, she swung her bound legs around and caught his ankles, sweeping them from under him. He crashed to the floor gracelessly beside her, landing with an ugly sound on his shoulder. From this position she had one shot left, and she took it without hesitation, bringing her bare feet up against her chest and adjusting her angle with one glance to aim. She slammed both feet into his face and heard as satisfying crunch beneath her heel.

He let out a howl of pain, rolling away from her and grabbing his face. The noise brought guards running, guns in hand. They saw the two combatants on the ground and reacted on impulse borne of training. Two went to Sam and took her roughly by the arms, hoisting her from the ground and making her stand between them. The remaining two went to their boss, hovering around him but not touching him. He struggled to his feet and barked them away from him, his eyes wild as he pulled his hands away and looked at Sam.

His face was dripping with blood, his nose broken and bleeding copiously. She had also managed to split his lip and cut his cheek open by the sheer force of her attack. The close range of it all had helped, and she was much stronger than her small frame portrayed.

He grabbed her by the neck and yanked her from the two guards, pulling the tape from her mouth in one motion, leaving her gasping in pain and surprise, scrambling to get a hold on his arm with her bound hands. He pulled her close enough that she could almost taste the blood on his face as he spoke, the metallic smell nauseatingly thick.

"I told you to behave," he growled, his voice venomously low, his grip tightening with each syllable. She couldn't respond with anything more than a gasp, her feet barely touching the ground as he held her at eye level. The murder in his eyes was plainly written, but so was the resolution in hers. She was staying true to her silent promise. Manny didn't know anything about that, but something in her expression inspired a perverted respect in him. He grinned gruesomely, blood dripping from his chin, and shoved her back into the two guards.

"Take her back to her room."

"What about-" One began in surprise, pointing to his face. Manny took his gun and aimed it at the protestor, removing the safety and pressing his finger to the trigger in an almost poetically graceful move. The guard straightened, lowering his own gun submissively and nodding his head in recognition of the order. Manny moved off down the hall, laughing to himself and wiping his face gingerly with a cloth he pulled from his pocket.

The guards delivered Sam to her room none too gently, cutting the ropes that held her and then locking the door behind them as they left. Kristina ran to her, embracing her with tears in her eyes.

"Hey, I'm fine. I'm sorry I had to leave you, were you scared?"

Kristina looked up at her, her young eyes glistening sincerely, "No! I didn't want them to hurt you…" She took a step back, taking Sam's hand in her small palms. Together they looked at the burns the tight rope had left on Sam's arm, already purpling and weeping now that blood flow had been restored. Sam kissed Kristina on the forehead and sighed, flexing her hands to show she wasn't in pain.

"I'm fine. And I'm glad you are." She led the little girl to the bed, scooping her into her arms and sitting down. Kristina clung to her, quivering. Sam smoothed her sister's hair dotingly, holding her close to both give and receive comfort. "I won't let him hurt us. Then Jason will come, and Mommy, and we'll get out of here together."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

The sun melted away and dusk crawled in, seeping through the city. Shadows dripped down the buildings, stretching across the docks and onto the oily water. A sinister breeze swept over the floor, pushing litter listlessly and churning the water into an eerie night time serenade.

Jason kept his position behind the stairwell, immediately hidden from view, holding his sniper rifle ready at his side. He flexed his fingers around the grip, his eyes unblinking as Alexis stood in the lonely pool of light cast by the last working street lamp. She looked furtively over her shoulder in his direction, then snapped her attention back over the water. A boat approached the docks slowly, settling into anchor without haste.

Hours ago Alexis had hung up the phone and told Jason what Manny wanted. They agreed that meeting him on his terms was out of the question, and Jason organized this sting without losing much time. He had snipers positioned around the dock, waiting for a signal from him to initiate their orders. Alexis was bait, appearing to have followed Manny's cliché "come alone" instructions.

All Manny wanted to do was talk. He even promised to bring Alexis's girls for her to see them together 'one last time'. Jason knew better than to take him at his word. In fact, he didn't think the criminal mastermind was even going to show up, sending a decoy in his place. Why organize a meeting with Alexis like this? Leaving so much open for attack? There was more to this arrangement than Jason could see, but with everything happening in so short a time he couldn't work it out.

A duo of black clothed men disembarked from the boat, a small cutter with classic sail riggings, and approached the DA. Jason felt his body tensing, all his muscles bristling as he crouched into a ready position, a tiger about to spring. He barely breathed, free hand half raised to signal the snipers. Four more men flanked the boat as Manny, dressed sharply in a grey suit, appeared. Jason couldn't make out his features, but his presence was unmistakable. Jason was hard pressed to keep from opening fire right then, striking Manny down with one shot to the head. He even went as far as to raise his gun and aiming through the scope. He held this position, however, as two final people emerged from the boat.

Sam stood proudly, her lithe frame contoured against the white of the ship's hull, her arms bound behind her back. Kristina was at her side, huddling near her, her small arms also secured behind her. Jason felt his throat constrict, his anger rising at the sight. He snarled, lowering himself carefully. Now he had to wait. He couldn't afford the guards reacting to their boss being killed by attacking the prisoners.

Manny sauntered up to Alexis casually, waving his hand as if she were his best friend. He stopped a few feet from her, the four men from the boat bringing Kristina and Sam up behind him. He was grinning, Jason could see, and as the dim light from the lamp spilled over his face Jason could also see that he was hurt. His nose was swollen and slightly crooked, the bridge between his eyes split open and scabbing over. He also had a reasonably sized gash on his cheek. Jason's eyes shifted to Sam, who was watching Alexis keenly.

For a moment Jason forgot where he was. The danger and intensity slipped away. All he could see was Sam in that dress, as black as the night yet somehow able to stand out completely. She looked okay, to his relief, besides an ugly bruise on the side of her head. Cleaned up it didn't look half as bad as it had in the video. He noticed she had no shoes on, and it hurt him. Her small, frail, beautiful feet. Scowling, Jason came back to the docks, leveling his gun at Manny, the mobster's head centered perfectly between the cross hairs.

"So where is Jason hiding?" Manny asked Alexis frankly, casting a look around. He stretched his arm out and hooked it around Sam's shoulder, pulling her close: into Jason's sight line, "Why don't we just have him come out, huh?" He raised his voice that time, looking over at the stair well as if he could see Jason through the shroud of darkness.

Without any other choice, Jason stood from his hiding place, tossing his gun to the floor. It clattered and the guards turned to look at him, three red beams appearing on his dark shirt. He walked with his hands raised submissively but his face displayed something entirely different. Manny grew serious, knowing better than to underestimate the infamous Enforcer.

"Make sure he doesn't have any other weapons on him," he ordered the man closest to him, who nodded curtly and made his way, gun leveled, to Jason. Sam watched him go, looking over at the man she loved with her first display of fear that evening.

"Jason!"

Manny tightened his hold on her shoulder, speaking into her ear menacingly, "Relax, Sweetness." She drew in a deep breath and resisted the urge to head butt him. Violence against him was her best defense, but right now she doubted she could get away with it unscathed.

"Alright Manny," Alexis said in her best Lawyer voice, "I'm here. Jason is here, as you seem to have expected. What do you want?"

Manny grinned. "I thought you would never ask." He released Sam and took Kristina into his arms, whispering to her soothingly. She whimpered and began to cry, feet away from her mother but unable to get to her. Alexis felt her heart ripping in two, her attempt at looking collected shattered completely. Her legs gave out but she somehow supported herself, tears blurring her vision.

"Please, don't hurt her! We're willing to do whatever you want, please. Just put her down…" Sam watched, stricken, as the woman she so frequently referred to as bull-headed begged for her daughter's life. Manny, however, was unaffected. Well, at least not moved in the way Alexis was hoping.

"She's fine with Uncle Manny, right Angel?" He stroked Kristina's face, wiping away tears only to have them quickly replaced. He chuckled, holding her close and letting her bury her face against his chest, "She's fine. I told you I wouldn't hurt her."

Jason stood with the red beams of rifles on his chest, watching the exchange between Alexis and Manny carefully. He shifted his gaze to one of the roof tops, instantly regretting it. One of the men, masked by darkness, had seen this flit of his eyes and followed them, immediately spying the sniper rifle leaning out to get a better shot at Manny, almost entirely concealed in shadows. If he hadn't been looking for it he would have missed it completely.

"Sniper!" He yelled, instinctively jerking his gun around and opening fire at the roof top. Manny hugged Kristina to him, a reaction to make sure she didn't get away, and dove for cover. Sam took this opportunity to dive in the other direction, hitting the ground and rolling as guns exploded all around them. Someone was on top of her before she recovered from the shock of hitting the ground, covering her with his heavy body, one armed craned backwards with gun blazing.

"Jason!" His arm tightened around her in response. She huddled against him, longing to hold him but unable to because of the restraints, "Oh my God, Jason!" She cried, a bullet ricocheting off the wooden plank of the dock just above her head. She ducked against him. They were completely exposed, with no cover anywhere in reach. Jason was an excellent shot, however, and with only two men shooting at him at that moment, the rest tracking down the snipers shooting from the roof top, he was able to get to his feet and, helping Sam up while making sure she was always behind him, take the two shooters out.

"Alexis!" Jason called, taking Sam by the elbow and charging to where Alexis was cowering on the floor, hands over her head like she was in a cold war desk drill. Jason put his hand on her shoulder, watching the cross fire carefully, always on the look out for one of Manny's remaining men to notice them. Alexis looked up at him, terrified, then seemed to remember where she was.

"Oh God, Kristina!" She almost leapt to her feet, but Jason's hand kept her in place. All three looked around for Manny and Kristina, but he was gone. Jason's snipers succeeded in felling the remaining bodyguards from Manny. When the chaos of bullets died down Jason saw Manny's cutter moving away from the docks, engines at full throttle without sails. Alexis struggled to her feet, screaming for him to get back. Jason caught her around the waist, fearing that she might actually throw herself in the water, "Jason, you have to stop him! He has Kristina! Jason! No!"

Sam watched, her eyes stinging. Someone came up behind her, one of Jason's men, and freed her from the tight ropes that bound her wrists. She thanked him with a mumble and moved over to Jason and Alexis.

"I'm sorry, Alexis… I should have thought to get Kristina… I was right there…" Alexis looked at Sam, her eyes moving through numerous emotions before settling on one Sam hadn't expected to see. The lawyer threw her arms around her eldest daughter, kissing her cheek, hugging her tightly and then crying against her shoulder.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" She pulled back slightly, taking Sam's face in her hands and looking her over, "did he hurt you? Oh, God, I was so worried." She pulled Sam into another hug, and Sam returned it lovingly. She looked over Alexis's shoulder to Jason, who was watching stoically.

Sam broke the hug off and looked out across the water.

"He still has Kristina, but I don't think he's done playing his game. He'll contact you again, Alexis..." She said, looking over at Jason. He stepped to meet her, almost hesitantly. They both knew what they wanted to do, but neither felt it was appropriate with this result. Alexis interpreted their looks and forced a vague smile.

"If we got you back we'll get her… I just… just have to believe that. Why don't you say hi to Jason?"

That was all she needed. Sam ran the short distance to Jason and leapt into his arms, kissing him passionately as he caught her. He supported her, her feet barely on the floor, returning the kiss a thousand times over. Tears fell down Sam's face, but for the first time they weren't borne of fear or anger, but happiness. Relief. She never wanted to go through that again. Jason ran his hand through her hair, setting her back down on the dock. Their lips parted but they stayed close, breathing each other in.

"Jason…"

"I'm so sorry, Sam." She closed her eyes and tried to calm her heart. She noticed that Jason's hands, which were grasping hers now, were shaking. She looked at him in surprise, and his blue eyes stared back, glistening with severe emotional excess. He swallowed hard before he could speak again, "I couldn't protect you…"

"You couldn't have known. I love you so much." She kissed him again and they were lost to the world around them.

Alexis watched, dropping her eyes after a moment and blushing slightly. She looked back out at the water, Manny's boat shrinking in the distance.

_What now?_


	10. Chapter 10

**Ten chapters is a huge landmark for me. I've never stuck with a story for so long before! So here you go, my tenth chapter. It's a little sexual, so be careful. Nothing too explicit, but it's pretty clear. Ah... I hope you like it! Thank you all so much for your reviews and constant support. You're all fantastic, and really keep me motivated to keep updating.  
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Chapter 10:**

It had been a long night. After Manny effectively escaped them, the group decided to return to Alexis's home for the night, each with their own plan for the time until the sun came up. Jason decided he would pull all his resources and launch a search for the cutter Manny escaped in, hoping to get his men out on the water before too much time passed. Sam was ordered by both her fiancé and her mother to go to sleep the instant she got in the door. Alexis diverged from the plan to visit Ric in the hospital.

Hours later, as the red glow of dawn filtered over the horizon, she returned to the lake house. She turned the key carefully in the lock, aware that the people inside were probably still sleeping, and eased the door open. Nodding to the guards that greeted her outside the door, she shut it once more and locked it, sliding the bolt into place.

"You're home."

Alexis jumped at the voice, turning around sharply to see Sam standing in front of the sofa, a book in her hand. She looked comfortable in a long button up shirt, the end of which fell just above her knees and with sleeves that bunched around her wrist, that clearly belonged to the man in her life. The top two buttons of the shirt were left open, but as Alexis drew closer Sam's modesty set in and she quickly did them up.

Alexis smiled at her wanly, sitting down on the sofa and beckoning for her daughter to join her. Sam sat down with a blush, curling her legs under her and hiding her knees beneath the shirt. She sat close enough to the DA to be comfortable, able to escape if she needed or to scoot closer. Where ever the moment led them. It was still tough for Sam to understand just where they stood, so she entered into conversation hesitantly at best.

"How's Ric?"

"Better. The doctors are going to let me bring him home tomorrow," she waved her hand to dismiss that line of talk, her eyes narrowing as she focused her attention on Sam, "you look rested, did you sleep?"

Alexis noticed the flush of Sam's cheeks and the sudden shift in her glance. Arching an eyebrow, the attorney stood and moved towards the kitchen casually, speaking loud enough over her shoulder for Sam to hear, "Where's Jason?"

"Getting some stuff from the penthouse. I think he's forming some sort of plan, but you know Jason. He doesn't really like to share his thoughts. He'll be back in a few minutes, I'm sure. He took guards with him." Her answer came slowly, as if she grew more disinterested with the topic as she was speaking. Or, more likely, her attention moved to other thoughts, leaving her mouth struggling to maintain the sentences she started. Alexis let herself smile in the safety of the kitchen, taking the ground coffee from the cabinet.

"Do you want some coffee, Sam?"

"_I need coffee," Sam said as they entered the dark house. She flicked on a light and crossed the room, her vision tunneled on the path to the kitchen. Jason caught her by the arm as the door closed behind them, the guards outside locking it. She looked at him in exasperation, loving him with all her being but unable to understand why he would keep her from her current, dire goal, "Jason. Coffee."_

"_You need to rest. You need to change and relax, and be taken care of. You've been through a lot. The last thing you need is coffee." He brushed the hair from her face tenderly, his fingers falling across the bruise over her temple as if he were afraid he might hurt her. She put her hand over his, pressing it to her face as she kissed his palm. _

"_I'm fine," she said, as Jason knew she would. He leaned down to kiss her, to dissuade her, and she grinned against his lips to stop him. She continued slowly, each word a kiss, "I don't really think sleep is in my near future, so a little caffeine isn't going to hurt me." With that she broke away from him and escaped to the kitchen, waving over her shoulder._

"No, thank you, I've already had some," Sam answered blandly, not bothering to raise her voice. Alexis heard her despite her less than heroic efforts and sighed, placing a single mug on the countertop. She went through the motions of readying her drink, but stopped when she noticed a new set of shattered glass in the garbage under the sink. She recognized it as Sam's and arched an eyebrow.

"Do you always throw your mugs out after you use them?" She called, almost playfully, falling into the comfort of talking to her eldest daughter. It felt natural and calming, a guiltless distraction from the trauma at hand.

"No," Sam answered in surprise, sitting up straighter and drawing in a sharp breath. Alexis felt the wheels in Sam's head turning as the silence between them lengthened, "Jason startled me,"

_Sam poured the lukewarm coffee into her regular blue mug, inhaling deeply. Too impatient to warm up a new pot, she simply finished off what was in there. The feel of it was more important to her than the warmth at this point. All she wanted was to taste something familiar, something she knew she liked. _

_A hand seized her elbow and her heart skipped a beat. She turned suddenly, the mug falling from her hand and shattering on the tiled floor. Jason caught her other arm, pulling her to him roughly and planting his lips against hers with such force it left her blissfully dazed._

_He drew back a step, still holding her firmly, his forehead against hers. She kept her eyes closed, thankful he was there to support her because her legs suddenly forgot how to support weight, her knees buckling threateningly. She opened her eyes slowly, careful not to ruin the dream, focusing on his face. His stark blue eyes were piercing, captivating and strangely fathomless. Nonetheless she felt safe, drawn to him. _

_She leaned against him, standing on her toes to kiss him expressively on the lips, telling him everything she had jumbled up in her head in one sweet moment. _

"_Sorry about the coffee. And the mug," Jason said, chuckling slightly. Sam looked at him coyly, knowing full well he wasn't sorry at all. She nudged the shattered remains with her foot, the cool brown liquid seeping through her toes. She winced at the sensation, looking down. Jason picked her up abruptly, startling her once more, and carried her into the living room, leaving her on the sofa as he returned to the living room to sweep up the mess._

_Sam waved at the guards that were lingering in the doorway, their guns drawn. They must have heard the sound, but probably saw the two lovers in the kitchen and didn't want to interrupt. It was bad form not to at least follow up, though, and they were waiting patiently for the OK to go back to their positions. _

"_Everything is fine,' Sam explained._

"I just dropped the mug. I'm a bundle of nerves, I guess. He cleaned it up for me, though, and he apologizes for the cup, too."

"It's fine." Alexis laughed at Sam's sincerity, "It's not like I'm going to make you pay for it: it was _your_ mug, after all. You left it here when you moved out, remember?"

"Oh," Sam said, bristling and nodding as Alexis entered the room, steaming cup of coffee in hand. She returned to her spot on the sofa carefully, watching her daughter, "I remember. Sorry."

"What's making you so uncomfortable? I mean, I know today has been… insane, but I was hoping that maybe you and I could find a spare few moments to talk. Like mother and daughter, you know… I almost lost you today and that scares me. What might be happening to Kristina right now scares me. I just want to hear you tell me you're okay, that she'll be okay, and that we'll be able to get on with our lives… I know that's unfair. It shouldn't be your job to comfort me-"

"No, I'm sorry," Sam interrupted, moving to put her hand on Alexis's arm reassuringly, "that's not unfair. I mean, I should tell you what happened while he had us, and I should already have told you that I'm sure Jason will save Kristina, and that we're all going to be fine. I'm just so… scattered. Everything happened so fast, it's really hard to get my head around it all."

Alexis put her mug on the side table and drew Sam into a tight, distinctly maternal hug. Sam, for a moment, didn't know what to do. She let her body respond, hugging her tightly in return without letting herself think about it. She found she didn't need to force herself to do anything, the bond of mother and daughter stronger than she realized, or gave herself credit for.

"I don't think Manny will hurt Kristina, not yet. He lost a lot of ground tonight, and he can't afford any more mistakes. He didn't lay a finger on her when I was there."

"Well," sniffled Alexis, pulling back and wiping her eyes with the back of her shaking hands, "I guess we just have to hope you're right."

"_He didn't try to… to…" Jason struggled with the word, rolling it over his tongue as if he didn't like the taste. Sam saw it in his eyes and saved him the fight._

"_No. He barely touched me, really. Except when I hit him first, or when he was trying to make you mad on the phone and he… ahh… well, you heard. I never saw him put a hand on Kristina, and she never told me he hurt her."_

_Jason sighed, leaning back against the sofa, Sam snuggling against him. He put his arm around her, kissing the top of her head, a small counterpoint to her ordeal. She sighed, her body giving way to sleep. "I wish he had never gotten his hands on you in the first place. I can't apologize for it… it should never have happened."_

_Sam moved to show him how easily she could forgive him, but a tense muscle in her shoulder stopped her. The trip on the cutter had not been a comfortable one, with her arms bound cruelly behind her back the entire time. She had spent most of the trip unconscious by the familiar substance in a syringe, but she neglected to tell Jason of that. He had enough to worry about right now, she thought. _

_He saw her cringe and, in alarm, sat straighter and turned to put his hands on her shoulders in case she needed the support. She shrugged him away, putting her hand to her shoulder and rubbing it gingerly. _

"_Just a tight muscle, that's all." _

_Jason motioned with his hand that she turn around for him, and she did so, crossing her legs carefully under her and presenting him her back. His large, warm hands felt like heaven against her aching shoulders, his thumbs expertly kneading the knots away. She closed her eyes and let her head lull backwards, unable to keep from moaning._

"_That's perfect."_

_His fingers fell over the straps of her dress, following the lines slowly over her shoulders. She bowed her head, her hair falling in front of her face. She hated the dress now, blaming it entirely for the events that followed its purchase. She knew it was silly and uncharacteristically superstitious, but she had nothing else to blame but herself. That wasn't something she was yet willing to do._

_Jason let his forefinger slip under the strap on one side, looking at it carefully. It was barely hanging on, the threads of the seam clearly strained. He acted on impulse, tugging it slightly and letting it snap, exposing more of her silky, beautifully sculpted back. He kissed the slight dimples of her shoulder, his lips traveling in slow kisses to her neck. He loved the taste of her skin, the smell of her hair and the softness of her moans._

"_I love you, Sam."_

"Sam?" Alexis's voice brought her back from her memory, and she shook her head to clear it, grinning sheepishly, "Where did you go?"

"No where. I'm sorry. Again." Sam sighed, missing Jason just as the door opened and he emerged with a bag in one hand and his phone to his ear. He ended his conversation wordlessly, pocketing the phone and closing the door behind him. He left the bag at the door and moved to the sofa, nodding at Alexis as he stood beside Sam.

"Hello Jason," Alexis said with a sigh, smiling at him honestly. He nodded at her again, arching an eyebrow awkwardly. He doubted he would ever find conversation with her easy. He put his hand on Sam's shoulder, ruffling the shirt. They exchanged a cryptic look, one Alexis didn't bother to try and decipher.

"Glad to see it fits. It's been in my car for a while. Lucky, though."

"Yeah," she continued to stare at him, both of their eyes veiling something from Alexis. She stirred uncomfortably, clearing her throat.

"Are you two hiding something? Or just playing some sort of game with me?" she didn't mask the irritation in her tone, standing to take the now empty mug into the kitchen. Jason and Sam grinned at each other, Jason taking the vacated seat on the sofa and putting his arm around Sam's shoulders. He ignored Alexis to lean against his lover and whisper in her ear,

"How's the unwinding going?"

"_Sam, are you okay in there?" She heard him call from just beyond the door, "I got those clothes from my car. Just a shirt and some pants that are going to be way too big on you. You sure Alexis doesn't have anything for you to wear, or that you didn't leave anything here?" She ignored him for a long moment, prompting him to repeat himself, "Are you okay in there?"_

"_Yeah, I'm fine," Sam called reluctantly, "just unwinding. I didn't leave anything here and I don't think killer business suits are really my sort of style, you know?" She didn't know if he could hear her over the pouring water, her voice muffled by the thick steam and steady beating of the water against her body, but she didn't really care. _

_After their encounter on the sofa Sam decided relaxing was a good idea. She excused herself from the wonder that was his hands and headed to the shower, while Jason offered to find her some clothes. The truth was that she would much rather wear something that smelled like him over something that belonged to Alexis. _

_Even if it had been in the car for a couple of weeks._

"_Just leave it out there, I'll be out… later."_

_The door creaked and through the fogged, textured glass shower door she could see his outline as he entered. He dropped a pile of clothes on the sink counter top, then turned back to the door. _

_She returned to reveling in the water, closing her eyes and running her hands slowly through her slick hair to rinse out the third application of shampoo. The hot water felt amazing against her bruised skin, making her realize just how much her body ached, but the pain was startling refreshing. Memories came flooding back, but even the flashes of Manny's initial attack couldn't penetrate her serenity. _

_The shower door slid open and she jerked her head to see Jason, fully clothed and oblivious to the water, enter. Shampoo dripped into her eyes and she cursed in surprise. Laughing, Jason moved behind her, sliding the door closed as he went, and helped her was the stinging soap out with a very tender touch. _

"_Thanks," she said. He tugged her to him playfully, nibbling on her neck as she giggled in embarrassment and tried to break away. Curiosity won out over her modesty and she looked up at him, laughter lighting her eyes, "What are you doing?" _

"_Helping you unwind," He removed his shirt in a swift, easy motion and she arched an eyebrow at him, the water falling on her back without her really noticing it. Jason stiffened as only a man can and Sam teased him as she helped him out of his pants. He cut her play short by pressing her against the wall of the shower, his strong arms lifting her off the tiled floor. He supported her with his body as they fell into a passionate kiss. He tasted her groan as he entered her, her legs wrapping around his hips and drawing him in deeper. _

"_You're very helpful."_

Sam blushed, elbowing him as Alexis walked back in. She felt like a teenager hiding her boyfriend on a school night. Why should she be embarrassed that they had made love in her mother's shower? It wasn't like it wasn't technically still her home, too: Alexis had left the option open just in case. Sam couldn't decide if that was just cop out justification or exploiting generosity. Either way she kept her mouth shut.

Alexis arched her eyebrow at the couple's strange behavior but did not push the matter. They were clearly doing their best to relax and enjoy themselves a bit, which was perfectly reasonable considering all they had been through. But the day was drawing closer, the sun rising beyond the window, and it was about time they discussed the terrible matter at hand. She sat down in an arm chair opposite the sofa, leaving the two love birds to flirt and hug in peace, and fixed her serious face on Jason.

"Sam suggested you might have some sort of plan?"

Jason sighed, moving his arms to his knees as he leaned forward. Sam leaned back and stared at the ceiling, listening and thinking.

"I do, sort of," Jason said, nodding at the floor as he gathered his thoughts, "but it might be a bit… dangerous."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11:**

Silence was key. The churning of the water as it broke on the rocks, the cry of a gull far above, the rustling of the wind through the leafy trees: none of it seemed enough to mask the heavy thuds of feet over gravel. The stones crunched angrily beneath his weight as he drew closer to the ivy-laced building. He kept his body low, his fists near his knees as he moved with a practiced fluidity through the bushes. He knew the sounds were just amplified by his anxiety; that he was actually being as silent as his intentions needed him to be.

Even with this new mantra in his mind, his heart was racing.

He came to a stop by the gate, hidden in a bush and the shadow of a tree. There was a camera scanning the area, moving slowly left and right in a lazy programmed pattern, but it could not see the assassin clothed in black. He reclined for a moment's rest against the trunk of his shelter, taking his phone from his pocket and, after checking the time on two watches, hit the walkie talkie feature. It buzzed to life and clicked patiently.

"I've reached the compound. There are no guards as far as I can see, but active camera systems. Excellent job tagging the boat, Stan."

"No problem, boss. You've got the boys on your tail, at a ten meter, thirty minute radius. They'll close in when I give them the buzz or if the time elapses. So it's up to you. You think half an hour is enough for this?" The intelligent, breezy voice replied almost too casually, as if they were just two geeks playing a game. It was easy to picture the young man reclining in his chair, Hawaiian shirt unbuttoned at the top, keen dark eyes glued to the computer monitor before him.

"It should be fine," he answered in a muffled tone, careful to regulate the pitch of his voice as not to alert the other sensory detectors on the camera, "All I need to do is get to Kristina. I'm not looking to pick a fight with Manny or any of his men. And if we've played our cards right, Manny shouldn't even be here."

"We're taking a bunch of risks here, man. It's really sloppy work. We've assumed so much, and you _know_ what they say about when you assume-"

"Stan."

At the stern voice of his employer Stan inadvertently raised his hands in submission, then brought the phone back to his mouth, his dark skin flushing privately, "Sorry, you're the boss. You know what you're doing. Right. So let's get this show on the road. You pass by the camera on it's next sweep and get yourself inside. I'll keep the boys on standby."

"Excellent. Don't contact me unless it is a dire emergency. I'm know I don't have to tell you this, but everyone else: I can't risk being caught before I get Kristina, and I know you don't want to be responsible for…"

"Then I guess I better say this now," a new voice added to the conversation. Soft and dangerous, coy and clever, he easily recognized the smooth tone of Sam. There were five key players occupying this private radio frequency: Jason, Sam, Stan, Alexis and one of Jason's most reliable bodyguards. The rules set down by Jason dictated that they were only allowed to use the radios in case of an emergency or to transmit specific instructions or scheduled check ins. Sam, clearly, didn't heed the rules, "Be careful, Jason. I love you too much to let that mad man get you."

Jason smiled meekly at the ground, picking up a rock from the edge of the manicured gravel pathway he was hiding near. He played with it between his fingers, trying to remain focused on his mission, but finding it increasingly difficult even by listening to her breathe into the open transmission. Closing his eyes, he nodded for himself and said, "I should be saying the same thing to you, Sam. Don't let him put a finger on you. This is stupidly dangerous, and I'm sorry-"

"Oh shut up, Jason: you can't have all the fun," he could hear the honest laugh in her voice and he rolled his eyes as she continued, "Don't apologize yet. We'll just see how this goes."

"Excellent idea," Stan cut in, "conference time is up. Ready to get this ball rolling?"

Four voices responded affirmatively. Sam disconnected her radio first, followed by the two clicks of the bodyguard and Alexis. Stan fed Jason one more update on his fifteen-man cavalry, and then left him to his work. Jason pocketed the phone into a pouch on his belt.

Everything about his countenance changed in one instant. Work. He forced everything out of his mind. The danger he was in. The danger he was putting Sam in. Her beautiful voice. The goofy way she was excited about this little plan. The intense moment they shared before he left for the island. The taste of what might have been their last kiss. As he was shoving this all away he realized just how much he thought of her, which made it all the more difficult to clear his head.

Work. Get Kristina out of here. Return her to Alexis safely. Make sure Manny never has the opportunity to do this again. He nodded with each beat of his heart, each bullet point of his plan. One step at a time, he was going to make sure this worked.

His plan, as he explained it to Alexis and Sam in the living room of the lake house the night before, had appeared relatively easy. All they needed to do was hope Jason's men had gotten a tag on the cutter Manny escaped in and through that the position of his hideaway. With that information in hand Jason would, metaphorically, storm the castle. Meanwhile Sam, as much as Jason hated to do it, would distract pure evil himself. They would arrange a meeting with him to exchange Kristina for Sam. Alexis would make the call, desperate to have her second born back. Then Sam would try to force Manny into a private meeting with her.

It didn't matter if Manny understood why they would want such a dangerous thing, just that it was his perfect chance to capture her on top of Kristina and have his full deck back, and thus agree. If he smelled a trap he would bring back up, but Sam would not be left undefended. Alexis would call in a couple of favors to reinforce Jason's guard.

Police and mobsters.

There were many flaws in this strategy, now that it was in motion. For one, Alexis had been all too honest with her pleading and begging when Manny called the next morning to taunt them. She had been all tears, and her true heart was not lost to Jason and Sam. Jason just worried what sort of affect it had on Sam. She put on a brave face, seizing the phone when the moment presented itself and making her demands of the mad man. He left her visibly shaken, but she refused to let them know what he had said to her. She simply told them that everything was set up.

The biggest worry Jason had, and the next problem he saw, was with Manny's erratic behavior. There was no knowing, no guessing what he would try to pull once he met with his 'Sweetness'. Jason's ranks were pulled so thin he could only afford her four snipers. He hoped they would be enough, considering they had been a part of the first bungled rescue attempt and so already had an idea as to how things could play out, but there was ultimately no comfort to be had. There would also be plain clothed police officers and their own snipers adding to the trap. The very last thing Jason wanted on his conscience was Manny getting what he wanted.

Focus.

He rose slowly, mind blank, eyes fathomless, absorbing everything without distraction, filtering all the extraneous information out and only taking in what he needed to succeed. The camera turned slowly away from him and he moved with it, pulling against the fence in perfect timing to avoid both this and the camera stationed twenty feet away that was supposed to pick up what this one missed. It was easy to see that the two were moving in different speeds, and then it was just a matter of time and patience before a large enough hole appeared for Jason to sneak through.

Carefully, picking his way through the shadows of the trees that lined the walkway to the door, Jason made his way to the building. He pressed his back against the wall, opting to find another way in instead of using the front door. Thirty long sidesteps later he was at a back door, hiding in the darkness. There was a guard stationed here, which told Jason there was no camera. A quick glance around confirmed this.

He couldn't help but grin confidently. The guy was scrawny and held his gun like he was scared he might break it. Possibly a trap to lull any attacker in to a fault sense of security, but Jason wasn't convinced of that. He took his chance and charged, burying his fist into the man's nose before he had time to utter a cry. As he was going down he swung his rifle clumsily around and tried to pull off a shot. Jason pulled the gun away with an easy arch of his arm, then slammed the butt of it against the man's head.

He was down and out for the count, bleeding slowly for an ugly looking gash above his eye.

Jason slung the rifle over his shoulder, arm through the strap that was so designed. He looked around once more, checked the guard for anything useful and, with a set of keys he doubted had any importance in his pocket, he went to the door. It opened without a fight, swinging noiselessly in on its hinges as if in a grand gesture of welcome.

Jason drew a deep breath and stepped into the darkness that waited beyond, half expecting to be jumped and killed instantly.

* * *

Sam drew a deep breath and stepped into the dimly lit alley, half expecting to be jumped and killed instantly.

She saw him waiting for her, despite their agreement to meet on the hour. She glanced at her wrist watch, already knowing it would tell her eleven o clock was almost twenty minutes off. With the darkness crawling and, inexplicably, thickening around the thin shroud of light cast by the street lamp Sam felt as if she were trapped. She didn't want those shadows to touch her, unsure of what they might be hiding. But the circle of light that Manny was waiting for her in was claustrophobic, only a three foot radius of unhindered yellow.

She stood at the edge of it, her expressive eyes fixed on her tormentor as if formed of ice. She winced when he lifted his eyes to meet hers, his malice and torturous thoughts hidden almost completely. She hardened her glare, unwilling to lose ground so early.

"So what is this, Sam?" He asked, his voice level and alarmingly collected. It was almost more terrifying to see this normal calmness, because it reminded Sam that he was as human as she was. It put them into a singular category, and made her identify with his character. It would be easier for her to hate him completely, to wish him dead with every fiber of her being, if he always remained a monster in her mind. He raised his eyebrows in question, tilting his head slightly, "Are you setting me up for some sort of trap?"

"You came alone." It was more of a shocked statement than anything else, and escaped her lips before she had time to stop it.

"I did. You didn't, I assume? Hey, that's alright, I wouldn't trust me either. But I have to tell you something. Hopefully I can get it out without being shot down, huh?" He grinned with unfamiliar… warmth? and took a step closer to her. She felt her body pull backwards but her feet remained planted, captivated by this change. She was almost certain it was a trick, a game to get her guard down, but she played along almost willingly.

"If you know I'm not alone, then you'd better be careful," she growled.

"It's cute of you to worry," she frowned at him, wrinkling her nose in disgust. He stopped two steps in front of her, raising his hands as a magician would. Nothing up his sleeves.

_Like I believe that, _Sam thought cynically.

"I'm not going to go down here, though. You wouldn't risk killing me with Kristina still in my care, right? Right. Now listen, why don't you and I take a walk on the docks? Lose the bodyguards and the cops. Just you and me."

Sam felt the muscles in her throat constrict, a violent urge to either scream or vomit over coming her. She suppressed both, shaking her head violently. Manny looked at her pleadingly, his eyes resembling something like a dog that's been kicked one too many times. Lost between insanity and endearing. Sam steeled herself. She was stronger than his mind games.

"Yeah, sure, let's just take a stroll by moonlight. Just because you want to torture, rape and kill me. Why should I let something like that get in the way of trusting you?" She barked stiffly, looking over her shoulder hesitantly. She wished she could see the snipers and cops Jason and Alexis had set up. They would make her feel safe. Safer. With Manny alive, let alone so near, she doubted she could ever feel safe.

Manny grinned and revealed at long last a small slip of his true nature. It faded just as quickly as it appeared, his lips lowering over his teeth to turn his snarl into a casual smirk, "Smart. Listen, I may have agreed to come here but, like I said on the phone," and here Sam shuddered, "I've only come to see you. I still hold the key piece in this game, you understand. Kristina is just the press of a button away from being just another murder statistic in Port Charles."

To illustrate his point he took out a small palm pilot, and showed her the display. It looked like a phone number, with two places to hit with a stylus of the tip of a finger: dial or cancel. She doubted he would touch the latter. Nodding reluctantly she raised her hand and signaled for the snipers to fall back. If they did or not she didn't know, but she hoped they were was stubborn and rebellious as she was.

Not having planned for this deviation from the weak plan, Sam folded her arms over her chest, doing her best imitation of a person in control of both her emotions and the situation.

"You have my company. But I think it's only fair to warn you that Jason is only the press of a button-"

"I know that. You think I'd come here thinking Jason would really leave you alone? He's probably trying to get his shot off right now. So walk at my side, let me put my arm around your waist, and be my shield."

The only choice Sam had was to agree. For now she had to follow Manny's lead, this dance they did becoming all too familiar. Feeling unreasonably sure of herself, she let Manny slip his hand, like a snake, around her lithe body and pull her to him. He wasn't overly rough with her, though, she could feel his agitation in his movements. He was battling his urges, and it was only a matter of time before he lost out to his primal nature.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12:**

Jason moved down the hall slowly. It had been a long, arduous process to get this far and, somehow, he doubted it was going to get any easier around the corner. Pressing himself against the wall, he edged his way closer to the end of the wall, peering around it carefully. Three guards stood in front of one of the doors, facing each other in a very casual conversation group. None of them seemed to be alerted to the presence of an intruder on the compound, which meant Jason's efforts to cover his tracks had paid off.

He carefully pulled the rifle, stolen from the first guard he encountered, from his shoulder and took aim through the sight. Lining the crosshairs flawlessly he pulled off on explosive shot and took out the guard standing nearest him. The other two reacted instantly, opening fire without aiming. Jason ducked back behind the safety of the corner, eyes peeled for reinforcements to come flooding over at the sound of gun fire. A quick glance at his watch told him that soon he wouldn't have to worry about that.

For now, however, he had to take these two out fast, before they raised the alarm for the whole building. Ducking down, he took his hand gun from its holster and pulled off two clean shots. They hit one of the men in both of his legs, crippling him for the fight. The remaining man, realizing how outclassed he was, ceased his fire and disappeared down the opposite hall, his cowardly footsteps echoing through the floor.

Jason, gun still in hand, moved to follow him, but stopped at the door they had been guarding. He tried the doorknob, but it was locked. "Kristina?" he called softly, hoping not to scare her more. He dug in his pocket for the keys he had lifted earlier. It didn't take him long to discover the correct one, and soon he had the door open. He stepped into the room carefully, his gun at his side. It was empty.

"Kristina, it's me, Jason. Remember me? Sam's friend. I'm here to take you home, to mommy and your sisters."

He sighed, aware that he was talking to himself, and was about to leave when something small and weak latched on to his leg with a thud. He looked down to find Kristina hugging him tightly, looking up at him with large, scared eyes. He smiled warmly, scooping her into his arms, balancing her so that he had full use of his dominate gun hand.

"I want to go home," she sniffled. He looked her over carefully, surprised and relieved to find her unharmed. At least physically.

"I'll take you there. I promise." She nodded silently and closed her eyes, her small head against his chest. As much as Alexis hated to admit it, Kristina was now a part of Jason's life, because she was so important to Sam. He was obligated to protect her as fiercely as he would her sister, and he found he was glad to do it. Holding her securely but not making her uncomfortable, he leaned out the door way and looked down the hall.

Clear. With a slight suspicion of being set up, he moved out of the room, staying pressed to the wall as he moved back the way he came, hoping for an easy exit. Breaking in was one thing: breaking out now that it was known he was here and he had the disadvantage of a child in his arms was quite another.

He altered his pace, trudging along with such careful slowness it felt like he was parodying himself and his profession. Keeping low, eye constantly moving, the first thing he wanted to avoid was being ambushed.

"Freeze, Morgan!" A stern, yet shaking voice ordered. Jason looked around, bewildered, then saw a man hiding behind a slightly cracked doorway, the barrel of his gun easily pointed at the intruder. He pulled the door open to reveal himself, and behind him a small crowd of equally intimidated but severe armed men. Jason frowned at them, standing straight slowly, not surrendering his position or his gun. The lead man tensed, his young face curling into a conflicted scowl.

"Drop the weapons and release the girl or we'll be forced to open fire," He warned. A flicker in his eyes, a shadow across his face, and a quick shift in the air told Jason that the situation was not quite what it seemed. His frown deepened, his clear blue eyes fixed dauntingly on the man before him. He did not drop his gun, nor did he raise it. He just stood there. The man, bewildered, made a sharp motion with his gun and barked, "drop your guns!"

Jason did not.

Gun fire tore through the building, a thunderous symphony of pain and death.

* * *

Manny held Sam to him innocently as they walked along the docks, his hand on her side rather than exploring the curves he so longed to know intimately. Sam kept her face turned away from him, towards the familiar setting around them, her feet, the murky sky above: anything other than his eyes, his unreadable expression.

She felt like she was dancing on a very precarious edge. And she wasn't the most graceful of creatures. She had to keep her focus, had to stay at least one step ahead of him, always lead and never let him get under her skin. He was an amazing actor. That was something she could not let slip from his mind. He convinced an entire city that he had changed his wicked ways, that a life saving surgery had also created a sweet, placated demeanor. She had been the one to see straight through him, so doing so again now should be a cake walk.

She felt his eyes falling heavily over her as they came to an abrupt stop. She hesitated, then looked at him slowly, brushing her hair from in front of her face. He was smiling at her. Not grinning, smirking or sneering. Smiling. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get herself to react. All she could do was stare at him in stoic disbelief.

He took her hands in his and eased her into a short turn, standing face to face with her, a foot of space between them. She lowered her eyes to their intertwined fingers. He kept running his rough thumb over the back of her hands, drinking the softness of her skin through his touch. She shivered without any sense of cold, her hair bristling on her arms and the back of her neck. Manny released her hands and removed his jacket, draping it around her shoulders. She let him wordlessly, not touching it, her eyes hard and distrusting.

"What are you trying to pull?" She asked through slightly chattering teeth. It was a surprising unconscious display of just how deeply this act was affecting her. She could feel her courage slipping away, the fact that this man was capable of anything sinking in. He could turn his charm, his malice, his reality and his fantasies on and off like a light switch. For him, getting what he wanted was simply a matter of tactics, and he had thousands of winning game plans inside that morbidly twisted mind of his.

The really terrifying thing, though, was not the danger of his proximity. It wasn't the fact that he was a man who used murder as a stepping stone, delighting in leaving families torn and destroyed. It wasn't that his idea of fun was torture and that she was his favorite victim. The really terrifying thing was that he knew just how to get inside her head. How to make her so jumpy and insecure, just by changing the way he spoke. He was inside her mind, a part of her thought process, and he knew how to take advantage of that.

He had her in his complete control, no matter how hard she tried to fight him off. It left her breathless, her lungs screaming for air but her throat unable to appease them. Her stomach was doing somersaults, her head numb and unwilling to bring order to the chaos inside her.

"What makes you think I'm trying to pull anything, Sam?" Manny asked, almost insulted at the accusation. Sam snarled, grabbing the jacket from her shoulders and tossing it to the floor in a sudden burst of frustration. Manny looked at her in mock surprise, eyebrows arched to a point on his forehead, "that's an expensive jacket." She responded by stomping on it, driving the heel of her shoe pointedly into the fabric.

"You're not fooling anyone. Not me, not any of the cops that have this place surrounded. You're at the disadvantage, so stop pretending you have some sort of upper hand. Just give up and maybe you won't have to go to jail with a new bullet wound-"

Manny pulled her to him, crushing her against him as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and back, almost bruising her lips with the passion of his kiss. She struggled against him but had no room to escape, trapped suffocating against his lust. He felt the scream in her throat, the tenseness of her muscles as she tried to fight him, the stings of her forceful punches and kicks as effective as if she were just playing with him.

He released her from her torment, holding her close. She looked into the face she knew as clearly in her waking as in her nightmares: evil. His eyes were dark and impossible to read, his mouth moving soundlessly as he let his gaze pierce through her resolve, shattering her composure once and for all. The tattoos on his neck were alive with sweat and threatened to spring to life. All strength left her and she screamed silently as her body collapsed against his. He hugged her to him, a laugh rumbling through his chest, searing her ears like fire.

"I don't have to fool anyone, Sweetness," he cooed, his voice strange and distant: insane. He looked off over her shoulder as he spoke, his eyes reflecting the moon as it shone on the black water his fingers playing through her thick black hair tenderly. She mustered her strength and pushed away from him, surprised to have him let her. She stumbled back, landing heavily sitting down on the dock. He looked down at her in more ways than one, a monstrously serene look on his face, "all I had to do was get to you. And here you are. Alone, for the most part, and with me."

"But your plan is ruined!" Sam blurted out, "Jason is probably on the way back from your island with Kristina in his arms: Alexis is going to have her daughter back! Your stupid game of revenge is over!"

Manny sat down next to her, his legs crossed beneath him, his arms hanging limply over his knees. He looked her over meaningfully, "Is that what you think?"


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13:**

Bullets ripped through wall and door alike, uprooting tile and smashing sheet rock. The echoing sounds of exploding gun powder deafened the rest of the world, leaving only those with a gun in their hand their senses. The scent of burning metal and fresh blood was already thick, bullets sizzling in flesh as men opened their mouths only to have their screams of agony drowned out by cover fire.

Jason covered Kristina with his body, crouched on the floor with his arm arched, gun blazing. He took down three, four men as bullets continued to pour unfiltered into the hall. An army of men appeared around the nearest corner, another to meet them in the opposite direction. Jason was caught in the middle, the focus of a firing squad, the young girl cowering under him screaming for her mother and clinging to him with vice like strength, hampering his movements.

The guns to his left exploded first, passing him by and striking the group at the other end. It took him a moment to comprehend that these were his men, his back up. Stan must have sent them in. Or had he taken longer than the allotted half hour? Whatever the case, he was thankful. They moved in, forming a barrier around their boss, their guns and lives at the ready. He ordered them to clean out the hall, to take down every one of Manny's men that barred their way. Ruthlessness was the only option.

The storm of bullets, an echo of a war none of these men had ever experienced, died away almost as quickly as it started. Jason counted twenty two bodies belonging to Manny, with seven of his own fifteen down as casualties. He frowned miserably, standing and taking the terrified girl into his arms once more. It was just eight now. Nine including himself. If they encountered another ambush like this there would be none left. He couldn't afford to let that happened.

"Alright, guys." The men gathered around him respectfully, two keeping look out, "I owe you for getting here when you did. But we have a long way to go before I can really thank you. So the goal is to stay alive. Don't engage in a gun fight unless you absolutely have to. Make sure you have a good supply of ammunition and keep your eyes peeled. I made the mistake of missing the signs of an ambush: we can't afford to do that a second time."

"Yessir." The group voiced unanimously. Jason nodded, sent two men before him, two to the rear and the rest around him. He hugged Kristina in silent reassurance, then moved with his team through the building. He was hoping to avoid fights all together, but nothing ever went the way he wanted. Three fights, and four more men later, Jason was beginning to think they weren't going to get out of this labyrinth alive.

He couldn't accept that. Alexis was counting on him, sitting alone and safe at the police station, to bring her daughter to her. He would not let her down. He didn't like her, true enough, but she was a human being. He knew she had a soft side, a side that loved Sam and, through that, trusted Jason completely. It was not an option to let her down. Kristina was going to get back to her mother, he had promised them both that.

And he had to be with Sam. For the rest of his life. She wasn't here. This couldn't be where it ended. It was as simple as that.

The small group decided the front door was the best option. It was closer and easier to storm through. If Jason had an idea about anything it was that the remaining guards, however many that could be, had divided themselves evenly through all the exits. There was no point debating about the safest way to proceed: it didn't exist. Instinct told him a straight line was the fastest course. His instinct rarely failed him.

They moved in a tight formation, the four men boxed around Jason at a radius of two or three feet. A man whose keen eyes never failed to catch anything led at the point of the diamond, lengthening his distance by about two feet. He stopped at the door first, pressing his ear to it. He signaled for them the ready their guns, then position himself to pull the door open. He did so, the others hidden to the side, staying behind the door the whole time.

Jason broke through the formation, leaving Kristina with the man behind him. He fired twice and took down the first two men to appear in the door way before they could take off a shot. The four men that followed him marveled. As well trained as they were, they knew they were nothing compared to Jason Morgan. They all felt a vicarious, child like thrill as they followed him, each ready to die for the man they respected and revered.

That wasn't a necessary sacrifice. The pathway from the door into the forest was clean. The two dead bodies were all that had been waiting for them. Jason frowned, but was some how not surprised. He didn't doubt that Manny had a very limited supply of men. That ambush must have been the main force, with the remaining setting up as strong a final defense as they could.

The amused murmurs of his men didn't slip by him. He turned to them, stern, and they understood. It was too early to relax. They had to get back to their boat and safely onto the water before they could relax, and then only slightly. The biggest threat was waiting for them in Port Charles.

The group returned to the shore without event. They boarded the boat, combed it for booby traps, and got underway without event. Jason sighed, reclining in the cabin as he left the navigation to the others. Kristina was much calmer now that she was away from all that turmoil. She looked shaken, her eyes wide like a deer in headlights, but she was talkative and good natured. She spoke to Jason about what she wanted to do when she got back to Port Charles, and as he listened his heart lifted.

"Mommy said I could have a tea party," she was explaining, her story growing exponentially longer with each breath, "and she said I could invite anyone. I want Mommy and Daddy Ric and Molly and Sam, but I want you to come too."

Jason smiled, laughing nervously. He wasn't the kind of man that liked to show how sweet he was, taking a look about the cabin to make sure no one was listening before saying stiffly, "You want me to go to your tea party?'

"Mhm, because Sam says I do really good tea parties, and I want to show you. You're Sam's knight. That's what she said. She said you save her and she wants to be with you. So you should come, because Sam will. She likes my tea parties."

Jason smiled warmly, nodding slowly, "you know, that sounds really great."

The door to the cabin opened and one of the men, grinning sheepishly because he didn't knock, told Jason they were soon to come to Port. He, the same keen eyed man from before, also mentioned that two people were sitting on the docks, one identified as Manny and the other a woman. Jason nodded.

Sam had done her job. If she was still on the docks with him than nothing had gone wrong yet. She had kept him busy. Used herself as bait. Now all Jason had to do was make sure she didn't get hurt for it.

* * *

Manny moved closer, his hands on either side of her hips, his body snaking up hers as his lips searched for a new place to tease. Sam leaned back, supporting herself with her arms behind her, wishing desperately to slip through the wooden planks of the dock. She turned her head away, her hair falling over her face, and saw the ship coming towards them. Manny took her chin in his hands then, noticing the change in her eyes, followed her glance out over the water. Grinning, pressed his cheek against hers, their eyes on the same thing, moving in unison as a man appeared on the deck, the anchor slipping into the water. 

"Looks like Jason is here to play, huh? Back from my island, the amazing hero, the young damsel in distress safe inside that boat," He kissed her cheek and then stood abruptly, yanking her to her feet by the arm. It hurt and she yelped involuntarily, grabbing at his hand with her free one and sinking her nails into his skin. He released her briefly, watching as Jason leapt from the boat to the dock, gun raised as he hurried over to them.

With a grin Manny grabbed Sam again, pulling her and holding her so tightly she gasped for air. He used his free hand to take her hair in his fist, pulling her head back and speaking directly into her ear. His voice was demented and perverse. She cried and tried to shrink away from him, tried to block out that terrible sound, but found she was helpless.

Jason held his ground, unwavering.

"It was all for you, Sweetness," Manny hissed, "all for this. You belong to me. Now Jason is going to figure that out the hard way."

Jason could see that something in the evil man at the end of his gun had snapped. He jerked and twitched, snarling and baring his teeth like some sort of rabid animal. He fixed his wild eyes on Jason and every once of humanity melted away. All he had was complete loathing and utter contempt for his rival. Every sinew in his body was built for one end: killing Jason Morgan. And now he had his chance.

"Come on, Jase: take me down, huh?"

Sam watched Jason the best she could, Manny's hold on her hair making focusing on anything difficult. She suddenly understood what this game had really been about. Manny was playing them all. He didn't care that Kristina had been rescued, that Alexis wasn't here. They weren't the targets. It wasn't even Sam he had orchestrated this thing for.

It was Jason.

"He's going to kill you, Jason!" She cried uselessly, grimacing as Manny pulled her hair in warning. She continued regardless, "he's been setting this up from the get go: why else would he send the DVD to Stan instead of the DA's office? He wanted you to be involved: to invest in this. That's why he agreed to meeting with me-"

"Because he wanted a showdown. Alexis and Kristina… they don't matter…" Jason snarled, tightening his grip on the gun, "you want to kill me, Manny? Then try it: let Sam go. You're an idiot for doing this – you're completely surrounded. Even if you manage to kill me, you won't get out of here to enjoy your victory. You won't get Sam."

"Want to know something funny?" Manny said, his chin behind Sam's shoulder. He licked the delicate skin of her neck, as if he had just noticed how succulent and perfect it was. Jason watched in disgust, knowing he was just being mocked. Manny randomly opened his mouth and sank his teeth into her shoulder, causing her to scream in surprise. He spoke with his teeth in her flesh, her blood staining his teeth and words, "You're completely outclassed."

On cue the cutter Manny had arrived in, hidden behind Jason's newly docked boat, exploded. Debris rained down from the sky, everything suddenly engulfed in flames. Jason hit the dock hard, it groaning in protest, thrown by an unexpected shockwave as his own boat erupted with a thunderous sound. The old wood of the dock caught fire quickly, the oppressive heat bearing down on everyone involved. Jason watched in horror as the remains of his boat began to sink. He couldn't see the four men that had been on it. The little girl that had been hiding in the cabin.

"Kristina!" Sam screamed in unison with Jason's yell. Manny pulled her away from the wreckage, covering her mouth with his hand and holding her deftly immobile. He watched with a mad grin as Jason scrambled to his feet and raced to the water's edge, not hesitating for a moment before diving into the water.

"Look, Sweetness," Manny whispered, his tone haunting, "even your boyfriend thinks Kristina is more important than you."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14:**

The water was thick and angry, churning as its oily surface burned in patches. Jason felt like it was trying to pull him down, the weight of his shirt as it absorbed the liquid making it difficult to fight the feigned gravity of the tug. He wiggled out of his shirt, letting it sink beneath him as he took a deep breath at the surface and then dove under the water as near to the boat as he could manage.

It was like trying to look through a wooden plank. The water was think with debris and dust startled up from the bottom by all the commotion up top. Jason forced his eyes to sift through it all, focusing on the blurred outlines to distinguish them as chunks of the boat or as human bodies. He recognized the frame of a body, arms and legs splayed apart in unconscious floating, and swam towards it, hooking his strong arms around the midsection and kicking them both to the surface.

It was one of his men, bleeding from the head. Disappointed, but obligated to rescue him, Jason half swam half dragged himself to the rocky area beneath the burning docks. He pulled the limp body from the water, checked for a pulse, and then, taking a breath, made for the water again.

"Sir!" A voice called from above him. Jason pulled himself around and saw, standing on the edge of the wrecked mooring of Manny's boat, his keen eyed employee. In his arms, her eyes shut tightly and her small hands covering her ears, was Kristina. Jason felt his relief hit the pit of his stomach, almost causing him to throw up. It was a conflicted emotion, but he fought it off, nodding a powerful thank you to the man.

At his feet, the man he just rescued grabbed his ankle. Jason looked down to see that he had just used it as leverage to stand. Face to face, the man jerked his head up at the pier.

"Get Manny. We'll take care of the others."

Jason grasped the man's shoulder briefly, then climbed back up the ruined dock, the intense heat of the raging flames startlingly raw against his shirtless body. He looked around and, to his dismay, saw no sign of Manny or Sam. What he did see startled him.

Leaping over a patch of small flame, he skidded to a stop and kneeled beside the crumpled body of a man. He turned him over and saw in an instant that he was dead, a messy bullet exit wound replacing what used to be his face. He saw the identification necklace of a police officer around his neck and understood at once what had happened.

Manny had brought enough men to cover him here, which was why his defenses on the island were so limited. He didn't care about that island, and ultimately wanted Jason to escape alive. The men he brought back to Port Charles had hidden themselves in the most advantageous sniping points: the places he knew the cops and Jason's men would set up their guns.

They were all dead, shot from behind as this man had been. Just a dozen more marks for Manny's scorecard. More lives Jason was obligated to avenge. He snapped out of his angry musing, pulling himself away in a half leap back, hitting the dock heavily and taking off in the direction he felt Manny had gone, his hostage in tow.

Jason didn't think about anything. He couldn't. It would just slow him down. All he could do was chase Manny down. Rescue Sam.

Make sure Manny never hurt anyone again. Ever.

His knuckles grew a bloodless white as his grip tightened over his gun. A taunting, almost giddy voice called to him. Jason slid into a full turn, turning around completely because the voice drifted over from behind him. The dancing flames of the fire on the docks cast scarlet shadows across his path, up his chest. He watched as they licked at the sky, thick black smoke blocking out the moon and stars. Had he run straight by Manny? Was he back at the docks? Jason frowned, planting his feet and pulling the plug back on his gun. He looked around carefully, his eyes blazing as brightly as the fire before him.

"Lost, Jason?" Manny called again, his manic laughter strangling his words. Jason snarled, angry that he was being made a fool of, "come on, I thought you had a second sense about this sort of stuff? Don't you want to find your beautiful Sam?"

"Come out, you coward. Stop hiding behind her and face me like a real man," it was the oldest taunt in the book, but Jason had a feeling that it was the perfect one. Manny hated the idea that Jason was more powerful than him. It wasn't about a happy life. It wasn't about the perfect woman. Manny hated Jason because Jason had power over every aspect of his life: and no one had the balls to challenge. Manny fancied himself an equal rival to the renowned mobster because he wasn't afraid to try and steal from him, to confront him head on in every sort of battle. Jason would prove to him just how stupid he was.

"You want to fight me, huh?" Manny sauntered into view, his hands in his pockets. He was grinning like a mad man, nodding as he spoke. Jason aimed his gun at him, but hesitated.

"Where's Sam?"

'Safe. Maybe a bit warm. But safe," Manny stood directly in front of Jason, some ten feet away, his feet planted squarely apart. He looked like he was ready for a gun duel, the way his body swayed reflective of a cocky cowboy. Jason didn't want to play this game. He wanted to end every here and now, even if that meant dying at this perverts hands. If he could just take him out, no matter what the cost, everything would be better.

But surviving sounded like a good plan. He wanted to try and pull this off with that part in tact.

"Tell me where you hid her: if you hurt her."

"Or what? You'll kill me? That's funny, because I thought you were going to do that anyway?" Manny stepped leisurely backwards, grinning at Jason. He was drawing his opponent towards the fire, but Jason couldn't guess why. Even so, he followed, his steps careful and slow.

Manny stopped and turned to face Jason, standing in the middle of a large ring of fire. He kept his hands in his pockets, acting as if this were a high school confrontation. Involving guns. Jason kept his level, right at the tattooed mobsters face.

"What's the game, Manny?"

"Funny, Sam asked me the same thing. You two, you think a lot alike. I hear that's not really good for a relationship, you know? Opposites attract and all," he shrugged theatrically, grinning dryly. He left his meaning hanging, looking around to show he was switching gears, "it's a shame, this mess. All those lives."

"Fewer lives than you think, but enough to seal your fate. You're not getting away with this. Any of it. Tell me where Sam is. Now."

"No." With that one word, that one breath, Manny sprang into action. He crouched, hands out of his pockets, one small hand gun in each palm, and leapt forward. His charge was that of a tiger, his teeth bared, his eyes fixed on his target. He aimed his guns as he got ever closer, not slowing down as Jason adjusted his aim calmly.

Three gun shots rang out simultaneously, a fourth echoing slightly behind the initial group. Two bodies hit the ground, one rolling, one almost instantly struggling back up.

One final shot rang out.

* * *

Sam sat up abruptly. The air was thick and hostile, suffocating. She coughed violently, dropping back down to the floor like all those after school specials told her. Smoke rose, and with it all the dangerous chemicals. The lower she kept herself the less she would inhale, or so she imagined.

She never had paid attention to those specials.

Her eyes burned like someone had dumped a bucket of salt in them, and they watered heavily, blurring her vision to near blindness. She couldn't make out where she was. Dancing pillars of red smudges told her that she was not safe. What had happened back there with Manny?

Jason jumped into the water to rescue Kristina. She had screamed. Manny told her Jason didn't think he important enough to save first. Manny took his fist to her stomach, hitting her with such surprising force she had blacked out without any sort of fight. She closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head and rubbing her palms into her eyelids desperately. When she opened them again she could see a bit better, and recognized the place as a warehouse just off the docks. She was literally right ten feet from where he had hit her. All she had to do was find a way out and she could help Jason.

Four gun shots in close succession alerted her to how pressed for time she was. She crawled forward, navigating carefully. Luckily for her the building was not burning very quickly, most of it made of metal, and what was on fire, a few crates and other stored items, was isolated enough to keep from spreading faster than she could deal with. She reached the door and stopped, flames flickering through the bottom of the door. Not a good sign.

She drew a deep breath and slammed her foot against the door, right beneath the handle. It buckled, groaning, but did not give way. She kicked it again, but simply could not muster enough force in her small foot to do any real damage. She needed to change her form of attack. And she knew she would regret it.

A fifth gun shot steeled her resolve.

She squared her shoulders evenly while ducking her head and tilting it slightly away from her dominate shoulder. This was going to hurt. Badly. She shut her eyes tightly and throw herself against the burning hot door. She remembered as a kid she once put her hand on the stove, and vowed never to touch anything like that ever again, because it hurt so badly and her mother refused to treat it because that would mean no lesson learned.

This was a thousand times more painful than that.

It felt as if her shoulder was being burned through the muscle, each sinew curling under an open flame like paper. She ignored it completely, running on pure adrenaline, and followed through her initial charge with one more, from a short distance. Her shoulder screamed in protest, but the door giving way beneath her was instantly gratifying. She hit the ground and rolled, curling up to escape the flames that danced in front of the door. Manny must have set that little wall of fire up.

Bastard.

Groaning, but refusing to stop for anything, she pulled herself to her feet. Glancing around, coughing and still blurry eyed, she couldn't see anyone. No one was standing on that burning pier. Sirens pierced through the air, the fire department finally getting off their butts to come and deal with this situation. Half a dozen more sirens joined it.

Sam's head did not appreciate the sudden burst of noise. She stumbled forward, toward the water, dragging her feet and gripping her burned shoulder tightly. She felt like a zombie, moving without the grace granted living human beings. Shaking her head, she cleared a large piece of debris and came upon an open part of the dock, ringing almost entirely by fire. In the center were two bodies.

Neither one was moving. Both were ringing by dark puddles of blood.

"Oh my God. Jason!" She leapt through the flames without regard, running on legs that gave out with each footfall, stumbling over herself and even dragging herself by her hands and knees towards the body she recognized as her fiancé. She skidded across the old wood, her skin raw under her jeans. She took Jason's head into her lap, looking him over with tears in her eyes. For a moment she wondered what happened to his shirt, his chiseled body a familiar, comforting sight. Until her eyes fell on the bleeding gun shot wound in his side. And then over a twin one high on his thigh. Two wounds.

Five gun shots.

"Sam," Jason groaned. A flood of strength came over his features and he sat up, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a tight hug. She closed her eyes and hugged him back, tears slipping down her cheeks.

"I thought you…" They began in one voice. Sam laughed, coughed, then laughed harder. Jason held her silently. She opened her eyes and looked across at the other body. Manny's body. The blood beneath him was still spreading, painting the dock a gruesome near black red.

"Is he…" she couldn't finish her sentence. It was almost too much to imagine. She closed her eyes again. She didn't need to see him any more. Ever again.

Jason held her tighter, kissing her even as she tried to get him to relax. She pulled off her own shirt, little caring about being found in her bra by the rescue personnel, and tore it in two. She moved into a better position, leaving him lying flat on the ground, and applied pressure to both his wounds, the fabric quickly growing dark and heavy.

The sirens finally reached them, the clop of people running in heavy boots and shouts of orders filling the air. Men suddenly crowded around Sam and Jason, pulling her away from him without giving her a chance to tell them what was going on. Paramedics knelt to aid him, while another group wrapped a blanket around Sam's shoulders, ordering her to sit down so they could examine her. Police officers were also in the group, questioning her between the orders of the EMTs. She ignored them.

"Manny Ruiz is over there! His body: over there."

But even as she spoke and pointed she realized she was wrong. He was gone, a long trail of blood dragging towards the water.

"Miss, just relax. We're going to take you to the hospital," she heard a paramedic say, though, the words meant nothing to her. She stared at the stain on the docks, everything else melting away. He wasn't dead. He couldn't manage to swim away. He wasn't immortal. Even if he got off the dock, the short fall to the water would be enough to kill him. Look at all the blood he left behind. It must be half his volume. There was no way…

As she was herded towards a second ambulance, the first already peeling away with Jason inside, she tricked herself into believing this rationalization. All she wanted to do was feel safe. At last.


	15. Chapter 15

**(This is it, the last chapter! Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed! It means a lot to me. Of course... now I have nothing to do... ahahah. Crap, didn't think about that. Now that the story is done I'm useless! I should think about writing something else, eh? If you have any ideas, just drop me a review.) **

**

* * *

Chapter 15:**

The table was set with pretty mugs, the floral design matching the table cloth. There were folded napkins, and a plate of cookies set neatly in the center of the small circular table. Six place settings, six filled chairs, four people sipping from cups far too small for them. Kristina served the 'tea' skillfully, only spilling the water twice. Alexis commended her for how devoted she had been with the preparing the party. Kristina didn't need the praise to feel proud. All her guests showing up was good enough.

Jason looked at the small cup in his hand as if it were foreign. Sam, sitting next to him, elbowed him. She grinned at him and his frown deepened. Her shoulder was wrapped and her arm in a sling, third degree burns limiting her range of motion. She didn't need to be using her bad arm to mock him.

"Just play along," she whispered, kissing the space just in front of his ear tenderly, "for Kristina."

Rolling his eyes, Jason sipped at the water, then gave Kristina a compliment like smile. She beamed at him, then took a cookie from the plate and offered it to him. Sam cleared her throat and he accepted it.

"Thank you," he said with a nod, avoiding all the eyes he knew would be teasing him. Alexis laughed outright, but fondly. Ric shook his head, patting Kristina's hair with pride. Sam covered her mouth in an effort not to mimic her mother. Molly was the only one not torturing him, and that was only because she was too busy chewing on an oatmeal cookie.

Sighing, Jason leaned back in his chair. His side was throbbing slightly, but his pain medication was strong enough to keep him comfortable. It was the crutch he hated using, hobbling around uselessly. Though, he couldn't complain about how attentive Sam was. He looked at her, smiling. She blushed at him, unaware of anything she did to deserve such an expression.

Alexis cleared her throat.

"Kristina, honey, can you help Ric put Molly to bed?"

"Okay!" She scooted her chair back, pushing it back in with the clumsy focus of her age, and moved to help Ric get Molly from the highchair. Ric carried the baby, taking Kristina by the hand and leading them both into their bedroom. Alexis looked at Jason and Sam, putting her small cup back down on the table.

It was their first day together since the final encounter with Manny, Jason and Sam finally back from the hospital. Alexis hadn't thought it right to speak to them while they recovered, but she couldn't contain herself any longer. She leaned forward, her elbows on the table.

"So…"

"He's not dead." Jason said with a sigh. He stood, Sam helping him and handing him the crutch. He used it begrudgingly, limping proudly over to the sofa, "I hit him three times. One I'm sure hit his heart… it was so clear. He was lying there, and I got that last shot off before passing out… it was so clean. But somehow he got up and walked away from it. He's not dead, and I don't know what he might be thinking right now."

"I hope he's learned his lesson," Sam said with a sigh, standing behind her chair and leaning on it in boredom. It might have been denial, it certainly wasn't apathy. Whatever it was, Sam just didn't want to talk about any of this any more. She didn't want think about her time with Manny, about all the things he said to her, all the threats and promises he made. Alexis watched her, reading all this from her expression and more. With one sentence she managed to kill the discussion, which was quite a feat for someone who liked to talk so much.

Alexis stood and circled the table, meeting Sam at her chair and taking her in her arms. It was exactly what Sam had been expecting her to do and exactly what she wanted. The hug became more for Alexis than anyone else, her arms conveying all the emotions she couldn't find words for. Where was she supposed to start?

"I love you, mom."

Tears sprang to her eyes and she nodded fervently, speechless. That pretty much summed it up. Sam laughed, patting Alexis on the back before pulling away and smiling at her. It brought Alexis no short supply of joy when she say the happy moisture in her daughters eyes, signaling how honest this small step towards a perfect family really was. They had a long way to go, and if they had to go through something like this every time they wanted to get a little bit closer Alexis wasn't sure they'd ever make it. She had to take things one step at a time, one day at a time.

There was no denying that this was their life. Ultimately, it always had been. There was no room for her to try to change that. All she could do was cope. And trust in those that knew what they were doing.

She looked at Jason then, smiling wanly. Jason nodded at her and then turned his body away instinctively, a small warning not to try and hug him. Alexis would not risk it, but moved closer to him with her hand proffered. That he accepted with only one slight hesitation. He shook her hand firmly, not surprised when she kept hold of his hand in both of hers once the initial thank you was finished. She looked at him straight in the face, her trace of her usual contempt for his existence.

"There is no way I can ever thank you enough for everything you've done…" she began, ending before she could say anything meaningful at all. Jason put his remaining hand on her shoulder, his severe face softening as his eyes absorbed and reflected her appreciation.

"You don't have to thank me. I'll protect Sam no matter what. Kristina. Molly. You. Hell, I might even help Ric is he needed it. All you have to do is be good to your daughter. She deserves that." He was looking over her shoulder at the woman he loved with all his heart. Sam was watching him with a beautiful smile, her eyes misty, her grip on the back of the chair weakening as he stole her breath away.

"Wow, thanks Jason. That's really nice of you," Ric laughed from the end of the hall, "Your daughters want their mommy to tuck them in. Daddy isn't good enough tonight."

Alexis laughed at his pseudo-pain and, with one final squeeze of Jason's hand, disengaged from the uncomfortably connected moment with her future son in law and made her way to her own husband. She kissed him and he took her by the arm, walking with her back to the kid's room.

Jason and Sam found themselves alone at last. No tension, no terror. Nothing to worry about or think about. Sam went to him, skipping a couple of steps in her adorable haste. He scooped her into his arm, completely forgetting about his injuries and getting no reminder of them. She kissed him fully on the lips, all of their pent up anxiety released in one spectacular moment that threatened never to end. Jason found himself walking backwards. He hit the arm of the sofa unexpectedly and they toppled over it, landing gracelessly on the chair in a confused pile of arms and legs.

Sam was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe, clinging to her chest desperately and only able to keep one eye open at a time. Jason, too, laughed, trapped beneath the feather weight of his fiancé. They laughed until Jason put his hands under her arms and eased her off of him, kissing her on the check. He stopped in the middle of his effort to get up, his lips barely touching her skin. Her laughter faded away as she was overcome with another, more fantastic emotion. She turned to look at him, her long silky black hair falling over her face. Jason brushed it away, leaning forward and kissing her with a different kind of passion. It took her by surprise, but she did not complain. She stabled herself by catching his chin in her hands, returning his love with everything she was.

To him she was perfect. She was all he could handle, and the time they spent together was never enough. The thought of losing her to any thing was devastating. She affected him, made him the man he was today. He was a mobster, a murderer, a ruthless business man. He was a knight in shining armor, a lover, a man captive to his heart. She completed his life, completed his being. Without her he couldn't function. All he would have left was his horrible way of life. Dealing with it, doing it well: none of that mattered. He would give it all up if she asked him to.

He loved her all the more because she never did.

She loved him. That was it. She loved him, and would never stop loving him. She didn't want to change him, because she loved him for all that he was. Even his shadowy parts. His emotional baggage. They weren't perfect, but together they got close. With just a touch of his hand, a look into those amazing blue eyes of his, he healed her fractured heart. He was her best friend, a sweet man and the greatest love of her life.

Dizzy from the intensity of their mutual infatuation, Sam found herself letting him lead. He moved from the sofa, standing strongly without his crutch, and took her into his arms. She kissed him, messing up his hair with her useless hands. He carried her to her bedroom, putting her down on the bed. He hovered over her for a moment, their eyes trapped together in a swirling, erotically charged instant.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

He climbed carefully on top of her, showering her with kisses as more of her body became available to him. She worked to free him of his clothes as he did her, careful of his injuries but not so worried as to stop. His hands slipped down her body, working over her intimate curves with a tender, sensual grace.

They were together, and nothing would tear them apart.

Outside, the night was beautiful. The moon shone down, silver and white against a star dotted navy blue sky. No clouds could threaten the clarity of the night. Only one singular, immobile shadow fell across the window into the lover's room.

**The End!**


End file.
